Being right can feel wrong

There are times in life when you like to be proven wrong, like when you take your wailing newborn to the hospital emergency ward in the middle of the night fearing something is terribly amiss. In that situation, it’s a huge relief to be told you are mistaken. And there are times when any pleasure

Letters , June 28, 2012

We welcome readers’ comments on issues that have been covered in the Manitoba Co-operator. In most cases we cannot accept “open” letters or copies of letters which have been sent to several publications. Letters are subject to editing for length or taste. We suggest a maximum of about 300 words. Please forward letters to Manitoba


China’s agricultural future: Adopt developed technologies

China is a grudging importer of corn and pork, preferring instead to increase domestic production 


As the most populous nation on Earth, China has intermittently been seen as the solution to the problem created by the ability of U.S. farmers to produce more than they can sell at a profitable price. Sometimes the discussion is focused on cotton; at other times it is corn or soybeans. Today, it is pork

Waste not, want not

Every year we hear the stories — the farmer who lost a bin full of canola to spoilage, or the one who lost his sunflowers — and the bin — after the crop overheated and caught fire. Or the farmer who opened his grain bag to find an infested, rotting mess after birds or rodents


Letters — for 2012-06-14 00:00:00

Ritz explains checkoff details Regarding the May 31 story “KAP questions checkoff administrator — last month, as part of our government’s commitment to deliver marketing freedom to western wheat and barley growers, I announced proposed regulations enabling a new, voluntary producer checkoff that will be overseen by the Alberta Barley Commission, in support of research, market

Canada’s role in meeting humanity’s biggest challenge

In 40 years’ time the world will need to have increased global food production and supply by 100 per cent to provide adequate nutrition for its nine billion or more inhabitants. This implies an annual growth in agricultural productivity of 2.5 per cent, from the same or less land. Over the past three decades, despite


Check firearms licence expiry date

Thank you, Inky Mark. You saved me 80 bucks and probably a lot of grief. Your letter to the editor in last week’s Manitoba Co-operator prompted me to dig out my Firearm’s Licence to check the expiration date, which turns out to be next Feb. 28. After getting the licence in 2007 it was shoved

Checkoff system needs to be credible

It is laudable that the federal government has moved to set up an interim checkoff to support research, market development and technical assistance for the grain sector. The Western Grain Research Foundation (WGRF), the Canadian International Grains Institute (Cigi) and the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre (CMBTC) are major assets to the western grain industry


How much flood protection is enough?

How much protection against flooding is enough? This question is often asked in the Red River basin. The Red River Basin Commission’s recent study, Long Term Flood Solutions for the Red River Basin (LTFS), found little consensus on the answer to this question. As a result, flood protection practices in the basin’s communities and municipalities

Letters, June 7, 2012

Farmers own CWB assets Gerry Ritz, once again, attempts to justify the confiscation of the contingency fund and other assets of the Canadian Wheat Board single desk, “Contingency fund not owed to farmers” in the May 31 issue. He is correct in stating that the fund was not generated by the CWB’s “normal” pooling operation


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