News & Opinion & Farming Articles - Manitoba Co-operator

Safety concerns prompt call for pork plant closure

NDP, union and workers all say a short-term shutdown would be the best plan

By Geralyn Wichers August 20, 2020

NDP Opposition leader, Wab Kinew, continued to call for a short-term shutdown of Brandon’s Maple Leaf Foods, August 13, and for “surveillance testing” of employees against the novel coronavirus. “Manitoba’s agri-food industry is successful only when Maple Leaf workers and the wider Westman community, are safe and healthy,” Kinew said in an emailed statement to

Lowering tire pressure is one of the first places to start to reduce compaction damage.

Crops, News

How to prevent compaction at harvest

Limiting damage starts with decisions when combines go into fields

By Matt McIntosh August 19, 2020

Field activity makes soil compaction worse. That’s just the nature of the work. But there are methods to reduce it, in favourable and unfavourable conditions. Ways to reduce soil compaction vary, depending on soil type, field conditions, equipment capability, operation style, and other factors. For Alex Barrie, a Bowmanville, Ont.-area farmer and soil management engineer

Crop Report, Crops, News

Winter cereals harvest half complete, yields seen mostly average

Manitoba Crop Report and Crop Weather report for August 18

By Manitoba Agriculture August 18, 2020

[UPDATED: Aug. 19, 2020] Southwest Region Unsettled weather continued in the Southwest. There are reports of a tornado that touched down near the village of Alexander but no reports of any loss. Wind damage to crops as lodging is visible in some fields. Canola, wheat and other crops are suffering with minor lodging especially in

Piles of harvested wheat are covered with plastic sheets near the depot for GrainCorp, Australia’s largest listed bulk grain handler, located in the New South Wales town of Burren Junction, in this file photo.

Crops, News

Australia hopes for ‘magnificent’ wheat crop in pandemic economy

Farmers Down Under are buying equipment in anticipation of a big harvest

By Jonathan Barrett, Swati Pandey August 18, 2020

Reuters – Just months after rains broke Australia’s crippling three-year drought, fields of grain have sprung to life, lifting forecasts for a bumper wheat harvest and reviving the beaten-up agricultural sector through roaring tractor sales and increased lending. The mid-season crops in some of the country’s major eastern grain-growing areas are as lush as some

Local news, Other

Manitoba’s cowboy poet

Ed Brown of Oak Lake is an award-winning storyteller known throughout North America

By Darrell Nesbitt August 18, 2020

Cowboy poet Ed Brown draws on his diverse experience as a rodeo cowboy, trapper and artist to paint scenes of western life through poetry and song. “My performances are an expression of a lifelong love,” said Brown. “It’s a way of life that stubbornly hangs on in the face of drastic global changes.” Brown, 73,

Farmit Manitoba, News, Other

Grain bins have regulatory, safety requirements

Farm safety experts say farms, even small family-run operations, are workplaces and are regulated accordingly

By Geralyn Wichers August 17, 2020

Farm safety experts are reminding producers that grain bins are ‘confined spaces’ — a term that has regulatory and safety implications. “Fatalities occur regularly across the Prairie provinces in agricultural settings specific to confined spaces,” said Marc Watt, a paramedic turned safety adviser at Elite Safety Training in Brandon. Yet, he said, farms often operate

News

Seed sector merger will affect grain farmers

Seed growers have differing views on a plan to create Seeds Canada

By Allan Dawson August 17, 2020

Most Manitoba farmers, unless they are seed growers, haven’t heard of Seeds Canada. Its pending creation will either help or hurt seed producers and grain farmers depending on who you talk to. Seeds Canada is a proposed new seed industry organization that will be formed if two-thirds of members of five separate organizations — the

News

Bayer argues against weed killer verdict, after its investigator finds U.S. farmer still in business

By Tom Polansek August 17, 2020

Reuters – Bayer AG contended in court papers that a jury verdict in favour of a Missouri peach farmer was based on a false premise because a private investigator it hired found the farmer was still in business. A jury in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in February awarded Bill Bader,

Kids explore farm machinery on display at Manitoba Ag Days 2020.

News, Other

Manitoba Ag Days cancelled for 2021

The 2020 event brought in about 45,000 people at Brandon’s Keystone Centre

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff August 17, 2020

Canada’s largest indoor farm show will not go ahead as usual in 2021. The show was originally slated to run January 19-21, 2021 but is cancelled due to COVID-19 safety concerns. “The safety and well-being of our exhibitors, patrons, volunteers, contractors, board of directors and management team was paramount in our decision,” the organization said

Livestock, News

U.S. farm state senators in a beef over livestock bill

COVID price downturn has some saying the market isn’t transparent enough

By P.J. Huffstutter, Tom Polansek August 14, 2020

Reuters – Two senior Republican U.S. senators from top farm states have locked horns over legislation intended to make North American cattle markets more transparent, after the COVID-19 pandemic tanked livestock prices. U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley from Iowa and a bipartisan group of colleagues introduced a bill in May that would force meat packers like

Daily Network News

Southern California honeybees show resistance to varroa mites

Pulse Weekly: SaskPulse optimistic despite input, crop price concerns

Canadian aquaculture should be classed as agriculture, industry groups say

News & Opinion