News & Opinion & Farming Articles - Manitoba Co-operator

VIDEO: How to treat grasshoppers that have made the jump to your fields

What to look for when deciding to spray for the voracious pest

By Greg Berg July 11, 2019

If you’re seeing plenty of grasshoppers in your fields, you’re likely far from alone. John Gavloski, entomologist with Manitoba Agriculture, said at the Crop Diagnostic School on July 9 that populations have been on the increase for about three years. So, what action should you take if you see these hungry pests eating your crop?

Beginning in our July 11 issue we’re launching our exciting new ‘FarmIt’ section. It aims to reflect the unique culture of farms and tell the stories important to the sector in an engaging and fresh way.

Local news, Other

Adapting to changing times

As the Manitoba Co-operator moves into the future we plan to reflect the changing faces of Manitoba farms

By Gord Gilmour July 11, 2019

The Manitoba Co-operator has seen a lot of change since its inception in 1925. Through the Great Depression, Second World War, the postwar boom, the farm boom of the 1970s and the bust of the 1980s and 1990s, it has evolved right alongside its readership. It chronicled the end of summerfallow, the evolution of zero

Editorial, Farmit Manitoba, Opinion, Other

Editor’s Take: Fair’s fair

By Gord Gilmour July 11, 2019

An old friend lives in Winnipeg along a major thoroughfare that’s slated for expansion at some yet-to-be-determined future date. He and his wife have lived there for nearly 20 years, and the word of the planned roadwork came down shortly after they bought the house. They’ve been told, in no uncertain terms, that once the

Ongoing flooding issues, such as this during the spring of 2011, have made an outlet channel a necessity.

Local news, Other

Divided by a ditch: Landowners left in limbo

Lake St. Martin-area landowners say they can’t get on with their lives until the expropriation process ends

By Alexis Stockford July 11, 2019

David Gall of Moosehorn doesn’t know where his family will be living in two years, nor does he know how much he will be paid for his house, his barns or the rest of his home quarter, land already expropriated by the province. Gall is among the Interlake farmers in the direct path of the

Local news, Other, Weather

Manitoba farmers enjoy significant rainfall

The recent system gave many producers their first shot of moisture since seeding

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff July 10, 2019

Much of agro-Manitoba has enjoyed its first decent rain since the start of the year. A rain system passed through the province July 8 to 10, with significant rainfall accumulations in many regions. The two regions with highest seasonal accumulations are the southwest and southeast corners of the province. In this storm Waskada saw 17

If vegan activists wilfully interfere with the livelihoods of farmers and the people who celebrate food, veganism has a lot to lose.

Comment, Opinion, Other

Comment: Hey vegans, time to grow up

Divisive and self-righteous tactics could easily backfire at a crucial moment

By Sylvain Charlebois July 10, 2019

Vegan groups are using billboards these days in the Atlantic region to denounce dairy farming practices, and telling consumers that dairy is scary. Some of these ads show a picture of a young calf, saying that someone “took its mom, its milk, then its life.” All this is to encourage people to switch to a

Farm abandonment, like these remnants of a Soviet-era collective farm seen here in the Kursk region of Russia, led to greenhouse gas emissions reductions.

Did you know?, News

Communist collapse had green lining

Post-Soviet food system changes led to greenhouse gas reductions 

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff July 10, 2019

Changes in agriculture, trade, food production and consumption after the collapse of the Soviet Union led to a large reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, a new study has found. From 1991 to 2011, there was a net emissions reduction of 7.61 gigatons (Gt) of carbon dioxide equivalents — the same as one-quarter of the CO2

Jim Tokarchuck and Margaret Klassen survey a pollinator plot at Winkler’s Discovery Nature Sanctuary.

Crops, Local news

Pollinator plots to be tested for benefits

As Syngenta’s Operation Pollinator winds down, the company says the plots have been attracting more bees and butterflies, but more testing is needed

By Geralyn Wichers July 10, 2019

A hot wind blows the shaggy grass as Margaret Klassen leads a tour group to a patch of what looks almost like native prairie, turned yellow by clover. “The clover is taking over,” she says. On closer inspection, the mix of red and yellow clover, timothy and other grasses is growing in neat rows, not yet completely filled in between

A combination of late planting and soggy soils can create a host of problems.

Comment, Opinion, Other

Comment: Looks like 2019 is one of THOSE years

While the Canadian Prairies are dry, the U.S. is struggling with very wet conditions

By Daryll E. Ray, Harwood D. Schaffer July 9, 2019

For many of us, certain years are permanently imprinted in the brain: 1983, 1993, 1995. While rainfall is generally welcomed, there are those years when one wishes that it would just hold off long enough to get the crop in the ground. Surely 2019 is destined to join that company. Worse than that, it looks

Daly House Museum curator Eileen Trott shows off colourful reproductions of historic McKenzie Seed catalogue covers.

Local news, News, Other

The seed company that grew Brandon

An exhibit at Brandon’s Daly House tells the story of McKenzie Seeds’ agricultural roots  and breakout into the domestic seed market

By Geralyn Wichers July 9, 2019

A Brandon exhibit is taking folks back to the city’s boom-town days through one of the companies that grew the city — and brightened its gardens. The “Imagining Summer Gardens: Images from the A.E. McKenzie Visual Archive” exhibit at Daly House Museum tells the story of A.E. McKenzie, and his company’s rise to be one

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