Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler.

Agriculture Minister Eichler optimistic Trump will see value in ag trade

Trump’s nominee for ag secretary, Sonny Perdue, 
has a record of supporting trade

Manitoba Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler is optimistic President Donald Trump will see the value of agricultural trade, despite his protectionist rhetoric. “I think that Trump is a very educated man in his own way,” Eichler told reporters Jan. 17 at Ag Days. “Maybe he has to listen a little bit more than he talks… that

Photo taken on July 28, 2015 from NASA’s Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 showing algal blooms on Lake Erie.

Going against the flow on water quality issues

Strong leadership is needed to address problem of deteriorating water quality

As summer heats up so too will agriculture’s ongoing water quality problems. On July 10, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that Lake Erie’s algal bloom will be “more severe in 2015” due to “historic rains in June.” On a scale of 1 to 10, forecasts NOAA, this year’s bloom will be 8.7,


Little Gain For Farmers From Off-Patent Soybean

Monsanto should stop pretending it’s doing farmers any favours in the upcoming expiry of a patent on a genetically engineered soybean, says Bob Friesen, president of Farmers of North America Strategic Agriculture Institute. “Farmers are sick and tired of these empty promises,” Friesen, the former longtime president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, said in

U. S. Cowboy Checkoff Fight Grows

“There’s a real sense that the proposed NCBA changes leave no strong role for state beef councils and non-NCBA members. Who speaks for them if these changes are adopted?” – NANCY ROBINSON Of all the political hot rocks farm groups are juggling now in Washington, D. C. – cap and trade, cuts in crop insurance,


These Grassroots Are All Astroturf

In the long, expensive battle fought by U. S. farmers to make corn-based ethanol the premier alternative fuel in America, few Washington, D. C. influence-peddlers fought harder and spent more in opposition to it than the American Petroleum Institute. In fact, you name the biofuel issue and API and its fat cheque-book made it into

U. S. farmers remain hopeful even as profits erode

“With that kind of volatility you just lose track of fundamentals.” –Illinois farmer Garry Niemeyer Iowa farmer Gordon Wassenaar says he is optimistic about 2009, displaying a sometimes puzzling “glass half full” mentality needed in a profession in which Mother Nature can wipe out months of work overnight. He and other U. S. farmers notched


California cage ban might be contagious

Farm groups have criticized a new California law that bans keeping chickens, calves, and pigs in cages, arguing it will increase production costs, while animal welfare proponents said they hope to get similar laws adopted in other states. California voters passed Proposition 2 on Nov. 4, which bans the confinement of egg-laying chickens, veal calves

U. S. farm sector cautiously welcomes Obama win

America’s farm sector has cautiously welcomed Democrat Barack Obama’s historic White House win as good news for a raft of industry priorities like crop subsidies, ethanol expansion and agricultural trade. “He knows agriculture and he has been a real supporter of agriculture,” said Rick Tolman, CEO of the National Corn Growers Association, a powerful lobbying