UN envoy says Canada needs a “right to food strategy”

The special rapporteur on the right to food's visit marks the first time the UN has 
dispatched an official to investigate food insecurity in a developed country

If everyone using a food bank in Manitoba lived in one place, it would be the province’s second-largest city. There are approximately 56,000 Manitobans who lack access to food because they either can’t afford it, or have nowhere to produce any themselves — or both. They are the Manitobans that Winnipeg Harvest has been trying

U.S. farmers buying lots of machinery

U.S. farmers are buying equipment as agricultural finances strengthen, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City said in its quarterly report on national farm lending. “Loans for farm machinery and equipment held at high levels with a sharp jump in the volume of intermediate-term loans,” the bank said in its survey, which included national statistics


OUR HISTORY: May Day parade, 1912

In 1912, approximately 6,200 horses still travelled the streets of Winnipeg. While they were quickly being replaced by automobiles and trucks (chiefly built by McGlaughlin or Ford), they were still used for fire engines, milk delivery, beer delivery and mostly for short hauling of freight to and from the rail yards. The picture shows the

Federal budget hurts more than cut employees

With the recently announced 2012 budget or more specifically cuts, there are many more affected Canadians than the federal government implies. The PFRA branch is no longer a government agency and within a few short years will cease to exist. We are a rural family living the dream, or were up until April 11 when


Former CWB directors appealing Queen’s Bench decision

Eight former farmer-elected Canadian Wheat Board directors are appealing Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Shane Perlmutter’s Feb. 24 decision not to protect the board’s single desk while the courts determine the legality of a federal law killing it. Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz is asking why the directors don’t “move on,” but the directors contend

U.S. Plains farmland values jump again

Farmland prices in the U.S. Plains states extended record-setting gains in the fourth quarter of 2011, rising 25 per cent from a year earlier as cash-rich farmers competed for land, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City said Feb. 15. In a quarterly survey that provides an important gauge of the U.S. agricultural economy, the


Sights, sounds and smells in a far-off land

The sun was just peeking above the horizon as the Boeing 777 banked south just over Cairo, Egypt and headed for Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital that serves as the hub for all of Africa. We’d been travelling ahead in time, losing a night as we left Washington, D.C. at around 11 a.m. on Saturday,

Choose your middleman carefully

“Shop it around.” “Read the fine print.” “Work with companies you trust.” “Don’t try doing this without professional help.” The advice is flying thick and fast as farmers try to wrap their heads around the prospect of selling their wheat, durum and malt barley on the open market for the first time since their great-grandfathers


Argentina revamps wheat policy

Argentina’s new wheat export system promises to spur output from the grains-producing powerhouse at a time when farmers are hurting from dry weather and the government needs more foreign currency. The administration of recently re-elected President Cristina Fernandez will scrap incremental export quotas in a bid to improve prices for farmers by boosting competition among

European agency launches food security initiative

London | Reuters — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development launched an initiative Nov. 28 to boost food security through private-sector investment to unlock the production potential of suppliers like Russia. The lending institution, which has traditionally focused on emerging European economies, announced in Novembera it planned to expand operations to the Middle East