Cereals & Farming Articles - Manitoba Co-operator

Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) inspection specialist Usman Mohammad demonstrates how inspectors use CGC grade standard samples to assist in grading grain consistently. PHOTOs: ALLAN DAWSON

Subjective? Not exactly

Western Canada’s wheat-grading system is probably more objective than you think

By Allan Dawson January 4, 2018

For 40 years Western Canada’s grain industry has dreamed about the black box — an affordable machine that would take a handful of wheat and quickly and accurately spit out its end-use quality on the elevator driveway. Like flying cars and cellulosic ethanol, it’s just around the corner, but never arrives. The black box is

Rapid Visco Analyzers are just one small step towards the longed-for ‘black box’ for grain testing.

Cereals, News

Falling number, objective grain-grading debate not new

The grain industry explored machine testing more than a decade ago

By Allan Dawson January 4, 2018

Calls for “objective” grain grading on the elevator driveway, especially for falling number, have been around for years, ebbing and flowing with the quality of the wheat crop. These days it’s the Alberta Grain Commission and Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association (WCWGA) advocating for the change. They say since grain companies sell wheat to customers

Montreal-area processor Grisspasta, whose facilities are shown here, is one of three firms alleging dumping of pasta processed in Turkey into the Canadian market. (Grisspasta.com)

Cereals, Crops

Canada to probe claims of Turkish pasta dumping

By GFM Network News, Manitoba Co-operator Staff January 1, 2018

Three Canadian makers of dry wheat pasta have got their wish for a probe into whether competing products from Turkey are being dumped into the Canadian market. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced Tuesday it has launched an investigation into whether certain pasta products originating in or exported from Turkey are being sold at

Cereals, News

Complaints about Canadian grading of U.S. wheat justified: Gifford

By Allan Dawson December 22, 2017

American complaints that Canadian regulations unfairly block American wheat from entering Canadian elevators are justified, says Mike Gifford, Canada’s former chief agricultural trade negotiator. “This is a classic issue of where the optics are awful,” Gifford told the 22nd annual Fields on Wheels conference in Winnipeg Dec. 15. “It seems to me it is an

Cereals, Local news

Three acclaimed to MWBGA board

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff December 21, 2017

There will be two new faces around the Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association (MWBGA) board table. MWBGA completed its election process through this fall and early winter and Boris Michaleski of Ashville and Rauri Qually of Dacotah join returning director and current chair Fred Greig of Reston. The three farmers were acclaimed. Michaleski and

Crumbling river infrastructure is putting pressure on the ability of the U.S. to meet grain market demand.

Cereals, News, Oilseeds

Wooden dams and river jams: U.S. strains to ship record grains

In a story familiar to Prairie farmers, the U.S. grain-handling system is creaking under a heavy load

By Karl Plume, Tom Polansek December 20, 2017

America’s worst traffic jam this fall occurred on the Ohio River, where a line of about 50 miles of boats hauling grains and other products turned into a water-borne parking lot, as ship captains waited for the river to reopen. Such delays are worsening on the nation’s waterways, which are critical to commerce for the

Farmer Walking Through Field Checking Wheat Crop

Cereals, Crops

This spring be wheat variety aware

CWRS and CPSR wheats you seed in the spring could be in the CNHR class when you combine them in the fall

By Allan Dawson December 19, 2017

Western farmers should review which wheat varieties they intend to sow next spring — because come harvest some could be in a different class. On Aug. 1, 2018, 25 wheats in the Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) class and four in the Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) class will move to the Canada Northern Hard

Scott Stothers (l to r), Loic Perrot, Tabitha Langel, and Doug Cattani with bread made from Kernza.

Cereals, Local news

Making bread — and maybe history too

The first loaves of bread made from Kernza have been gobbled up in Manitoba

By Laura Rance-Unger December 8, 2017

You won’t be buying Kernza bread in a Manitoba bakery or grocery store any time soon, but a small group of proponents see it as a sign of things to come. Guests at a small reception at the Tall Grass Prairie Bakery in downtown Winnipeg Nov. 23 were treated to loaves of freshly baked sourdough

Cereals, Crops, Markets

Wheat bids fall along with U.S. futures

By Ashley Robinson - MarketsFarm, GFM Network News November 20, 2017

Winnipeg | CNS Canada – Hard red spring wheat bids in Western Canada fell slightly for the week ending Nov. 17, following decreases in the United States markets. Depending on the location, average Canada Western Red Spring (13.5 per cent protein CWRS) wheat prices were down C$3 to C$5 per tonne across the Prairie provinces,

The Canada 150 emblem in a durum field. (Agr.gc.ca)

Cereals, Crops, Markets, Weather

Durum production seen vulnerable heading into 2018

By Ashley Robinson - MarketsFarm, GFM Network News November 15, 2017

Winnipeg | CNS Canada — Western Canada and the northern U.S. could be in trouble for next year’s durum crop if rain doesn’t come, while large global stockpiles could also keep commodity prices low, according to analysts here at the Grain World conference. “Will it rain in the durum areas of Canada and the United

Daily Network News

Farmers’ Almanac rescued from closure; fate of Canadian content unknown

Do More Ag to fund rural groups’ mental health workshops

Pulse Weekly: India to make pulse tariff announcement on Tuesday

Cereals