Election 2016:  The parties’ response to rural and farm issues

Election 2016: The parties’ response to rural and farm issues

The Manitoba Co-operator put five questions to Manitoba’s registered political parties. Here is how they responded

QUESTION: Each year, Manitoba producers pay tens of thousands of dollars in education tax on their farmland. While farmers are eligible for an 80 per cent education tax rebate, that rebate is capped at $5,000, meaning larger operations are unable to claim much of the rebate. What is your party’s policy on farmland education tax rebates?

Website will facilitate citizen comments on TPP deal

The government has promised open consultations but the groups say so far it has been 
all closed-door meetings with TPP supporters

Spurred on by what they say is official foot-dragging, four anti-TPP groups are teaming up to provide Canadians with a platform to tell the government what they think of the trade deal. The Council of Canadians, OpenMedia, Stand (formerly ForestEthics) and SumOfUs have created the website LetsTalkTPP.ca, where members of the public can send their


Cheese Different Sorts a on white background

Grey market milk substitutes could see crackdown at Canada-U.S. border

U.S. processors are becoming adept at creating products that circumvent importation restrictions, critics say

The federal government is promising the dairy industry a crackdown on surging milk substitute imports. NAFTA regulations exempt U.S. dairy producers from tariff rate quotas (TRQs) on milk protein products, giving them nearly unfettered access to the Canadian market for these products. They’re used mainly to make cheese, and the dairy industry says the U.S.

DeKalb agronomist Bruce Murray explained the benefits of Monsanto’s new Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans at the company’s Oakville, Man., plots last June. Monsanto hopes to commercialize the glyphosate and dicamba tolerant soybeans this spring, but seed sales are on hold pending European Union approval.

Canadian launch of Monsanto’s new Xtend soybean on hold pending European Union approval

While Monsanto says approval is imminent, the MPSGA and major exporters don’t want the new variety commercialized until it is fearing Canadian soybean exports to the EU would be jeopardized

With seeding around the corner, distribution of Monsanto’s new Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans to Canadian farmers is on hold, awaiting European Union (EU) approval. The glyphosate- and dicamba-tolerant soybeans were expected to be approved weeks ago. The Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers Association (MPSGA) and major grain companies don’t want Monsanto to release the


Record grain movement masks systemic ills

Record grain movement masks systemic ills

Long-term issues haven't been addressed yet

Grain shippers aren’t cheering too loudly about record grain movement in the 2014-15 crop year, and warn that costly grain backlogs like those in 2013-14 may recur. “We don’t want people to read about this and say: ‘problem solved,’” Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA), said in an interview. “It’s

Curt Vossen

Richardson International head condemns CTA review panel

Curt Vossen says the report ignores shippers’ concerns and reflects the railways’ position on the Canadian Transportation Act

The head of Canada’s biggest grain company is deeply disappointed with the Canadian Transportation Act review panel’s report. “I think the report (released in February) misses the point,” said Richardson International’s president and CEO Curt Vossen in a recent interview. “Very little of the concerns and observations put forward by shippers are included in that


Zane Pickering prepares his heavy horses for their time in the show ring at last week’s Royal Manitoba Winter Fair.

Town meets country at the winter fair

The Royal Manitoba Winter Fair might be an equestrian show, but it 
still attracts an audience of urbanites interested in agriculture

With his two Belgian horses hovering over him, Zane Pickering entertained questions from passersby. “These horses are pretty majestic, so I guess that attracts people,” said Pickering, as he prepared them for their time in the show ring at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair (RMWF) “We have so many people stopping to look at them

Editorial: Too many organizations

A few years ago, a group of Japanese wheat millers was touring the Canadian Wheat Board building in Winnipeg. In the transportation department, where there was a large wall map showing all the rail lines in Western Canada, they received the standard presentation on logistics. The presenter explained that to save distance and costs, wheat


Processors see more opportunity than negatives in CETA deal

Processors see more opportunity than negatives in CETA deal

Glacier FarmMedia Special Report: Ice wine, pet foods and jam makers are analyzing what potential the European market 
offers their businesses to grow

Our March 31, 2016 issue marks the third and final instalment in a series of Special Reports prepared by Glacier FarmMedia reporters on how the Comprehensive Trade and Economic Agreement (CETA) between Canada and Europe will affect Canadian food producers and processors. Charles Crawford, founder and president, Domaine Pinnacle Producers of spirits and cider based

Eighty-two-year-old Thornhill farmer David Lumgair, pictured here with his farm dog Rodger, says fossil discoveries on his farm over the years have made him think about the future of life on earth too.

The farmer and the fossil

David Lumgair’s Thornhill-area farm is the site of significant fossil finds from the 
Cretaceous period including a newly identified flightless bird now named in his honour

It isn’t every day a farmer is asked if a fossil can be named after him. But that was exactly what staff from the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre were asking retired southern Manitoba farmer David Lumgair earlier this month. Paleontologists had discovered a new species from a fossil found on his farm in 1978. They