News & Opinion & Farming Articles - Manitoba Co-operator

KAP submission says producer car facilities need not be licensed

Requirement for official scales is also an unnecessary burden that could limit loading options

By Allan Dawson September 19, 2016

The Keystone Agricultural Producers is calling for a middle ground on licensing producer car loading facilities. In a submission to the Canadian Grain Commission, KAP is calling for no licence requirement for facilities that strictly load producer cars, but licensing for facilities that add dealer cars into the mix. Historically ‘dealer car’ had a different

Research at the University of Illinois simulates future atmospheric conditions to determine their effects on plants. Here, Professor Andrew Leakey (r), works with research assistants Lindsey Heady and David Marshak.

Did you know?, News

Study says CO2 benefit of global warming overestimated

While higher CO2 levels can mean greater growth it appears they also set plants up to be more susceptible to drought losses

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff September 19, 2016

An eight-year study suggests talk of higher yields under a global warming scenario may be overly optimistic. University of Illinois researchers grew soybeans in a carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere and they say their findings are worrisome. Under ideal growing conditions higher CO2 will boost plant growth, but an article in the journal Nature Plants suggests drought,

Fall frost can cut soybean yields and reduce quality, but fortunately this year most Manitoba soybean fields are now mature enough that frost would do little damage, says Manitoba Agriculture’s pulse specialist Dennis Lange.

Crops, Local news

Soybeans mostly safe from frost now

Manitoba Agriculture pulse specialist Dennis Lange has advice on harvesting weedy soybean fields

By Allan Dawson September 16, 2016

Soybean yields are now largely locked in — but quality could still take a hit for future frosts. Dennis Lange, Manitoba Agriculture pulse crop specialist, says this progress is readily apparent in the province’s record 1.6 million acres of soybeans. “This year driving around the countryside you are seeing lots of varieties started to dry

Crops, Local news, Oilseeds

Light frost but little to no soybean damage

Good growing conditions allowed the crop to escape damage, but it underlines the importance of the right variety

By Allan Dawson September 15, 2016

Temperatures hovered at or just below freezing across much of the province both Sept. 13 or 14, but apart from a few clipped leaves, there was little damage to soybeans. Soybean producers are always worried about an early frost with the long-season heat-loving crop, but this time the crop had advanced enough to prevent damage,

La Compa, France’s best-known agricultural museum, is displaying a Massey Sawyer that was better suited for Prairie fields.

Local news

A Prairie tractor makes a long trip to France

A request from a French agriculture museum reveals an interesting tale of a tractor

By Alex Campbell September 15, 2016

The Conservatory of Agriculture, the premier agricultural museum of France, recently contacted the Manitoba Agricultural Museum. It was seeking a digital copy of a Sawyer Massey tractor advertisement we were using on our web page on the Sawyer Massey 25-45 tractor in our collection. The Conservatory of Agriculture, better known as Le Compa, has a

Editorial, Opinion

Editorial: Armchair economist

By Gord Gilmour September 15, 2016

It’s been said that anyone who thinks about economic forecasts for more than about a half an hour a year is wasting their life. A professional economist told me that, and what she was getting at is the intractable nature of economics. Even the experts can’t agree on what’s happening, or has happened, never mind

J.P. Gervais, FCC chief agricultural economist, says Canadian farm balance sheets are healthy for now.

News

Canadian farm balance sheets strong

FCC says the industry is doing well, but there are potential headwinds looming

By Allan Dawson September 15, 2016

Canadian agriculture is on a sound financial footing, with record farm income and land values peaking, while the increase in farm debt — also a record — is slowing. Those are the major conclusions of the Farm Credit Canada (FCC) Outlook for Farm Assets and Debt 2016-17 report, published Sept. 7. “The balance sheet of

Rolf Penner’s neighbours have put in long hours on the family’s farm this fall helping take the harvest off after Penner’s father was killed in a highway accident.

Local news

Tragedy brings out the best in farm community

Within hours of learning their 76-year-old neighbour had been killed in a car accident, farm neighbours began organizing to help harvest the family’s crops

By Lorraine Stevenson September 15, 2016

At his father’s funeral this summer, Rolf Penner spoke of how working alongside him on the farm was a bit like being ‘like an old married couple.’ “We would bicker and fight and argue over things, but when it came down to it we were always there for each other,” he said. And they’d always

The St. Malo museum closed it's doors forever this spring, after the making of the film. The collections will be dispersed back to donors this month.

Country Crossroads, Local news

‘The End of Our Memories’ shows the challenges of small-town museums

Gimli-based filmmakers Andy Blicq’s and Huw Eirung’s half-hour documentary interviews  volunteer proprietors of small-town museums about their struggles and successes

By Lorraine Stevenson September 14, 2016

A new film depicting the plight of small-town museums is a cautionary tale of what rural communities will lose if they’re closed, say museum advocates. These aren’t merely collections of curios, tools, books and other things donated by local pioneer families, says Monique Brandt, executive director of the Association of Manitoba Museums. They’re tangible connections

A small dam holds back water at the Morden research centre.

Crops, Local news

How much nitrogen could a wood chip chuck?

Researchers investigating wood chip bioreactors under Manitoba conditions  say half the nitrogen in tile drainage run-off could be captured

By Shannon VanRaes September 14, 2016

Often considered a byproduct of forestry and landscaping, wood chips could also become central to decreasing nitrogen run-off from tile drainage systems. Dipping his hand into a plastic container full of wood chips at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Research Centre in Morden, Steve Sager said that increased use of tile drainage in Manitoba, as well

Daily Network News

Moroccan fertilizer maker OCP expects output to drop 30 per cent in Q2, sources say

Feed Grain Weekly: Demand rises despite war uncertainty

How farmers can manage stress, anxiety during spring seeding

News & Opinion