NIRS provides rapid feed-ingredient analysis

Cost of $40,000 can potentially be paid off within six months on a moderate-size beef or hog operation

The technique of Near Infrared Reflectance Spectrometry (NIRS) analysis is set to change the way livestock producers evaluate feed ingredients and have their rations formulated. Because this technology provides a rapid assessment of a wide range of nutritional parameters, such as energy value, dry matter and protein, the economic value of ingredients such as cereals

CP can’t move entire crop off the combine

This just in — the railways won’t move Western Canada’s entire wheat crop off the combine this fall. “To use a cliché in building the church for Easter Sunday, there’s a reality that it’s a seasonal business and we’re responsive on a seasonal basis to the business,” Steve Whitney, CP Rail’s vice-president of marketing and



Farmers own CWB assets: KAP, WRAP, APAS

They’ve given up trying to save the wheat board’s single desk, but three leading farm leaders are still fighting to save the board’s assets, including the contingency fund, for farmers. “I certainly have marching orders from my membership that the assets of the wheat board belong to farmers,” said Doug Chorney, president of Keystone Agricultural


What’s the message here?

According to Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, ending the wheat board monopoly will mean “the sky will be the limit” for wheat, prompting farmers to plant more acres. That presumably means a need for more and better varieties, so you might expect that the government would back up its claim by continuing support for public research,

Dominoes starting to fall as end of single desk draws nearer

Research and market development, keeping an eye on the railways, 
and the fate of short line railways are just three of the issues KAP is trying to address

Manitoba’s farm leaders are scrambling to plug holes that will be left by the demise of the single-desk CWB. Research and market development, keeping an eye on the railways, and the fate of short lines were high on the agenda when Keystone Agricultural Producers delegates gathered at their General Council meeting last week. But challenges


Quick-cooking barley puts a modern spin on an ancient grain

Manitoba-made, value-added, hulless barley food product 
offers ease of preparation, convenience and nutritional benefits

Everybody has to eat. On dinner plates around the world, there are three main types of starches: rice, potatoes and pasta. Now, after years of product development, Marvin Nakonechny, the CEO of Edmonton-based Progressive Foods, has an ambitious plan to add his company’s new, fast-cooking hulless barley product to that list. “I just want a

Canada barley trade losing ground to Argentina

Reuters / Canada’s barley exports have dwindled to a fraction of their former might, as Argentina muscles in on trade and domestic cattle feedlots offer farmers better prices than exporters. Through March 25, Canada was on pace for exports of 1.3 million tonnes in 2011-12 similar to the past two marketing years, according to Canadian Grain



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