(Michael Thompson photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

State of Prairie winter wheat still unknown

CNS Canada — Snow cover is rapidly disappearing across Western Canada, but it will still be a few weeks until the extent of any damage to winter wheat across the Prairies is fully known. “It’s still wait-and-see,” said analyst Bruce Burnett of Winnipeg grain firm CWB. The crop won’t start re-growing until the overnight temperatures


(Dave Bedard photo)

CWB building sold: reports

CNS Canada — The former Canadian Wheat Board’s downtown Winnipeg office building has been sold, according to media reports. The eight-story building on Main Street was bought by Calgary-based Hopewell Development, reportedly for $9.7 million. The former wheat board, now called CWB, will continue to lease two floors of the building. The sale was initially



CWB building in Winnipeg

CWB privatization attracts national attention

The former wheat board responds in ‘open letter,’ while the NFU calls on the western provinces 
to buy the board’s assets until farmers can take control

Maybe it was MP Pat Martin’s question to Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz: “Has the minister lost his freaking mind?” or a recent Globe and Mail editorial, but CWB’s transition to a private grain company is getting lots of attention beyond the farm sector. So much so CWB issued an ‘open letter’ Dec. 5 to explain

farmer in a field of wheat

Editorial: The real deal to watch

There has been quite the media hullabaloo lately over rumours that a large multinational based in the U.S. might be closing in on a deal with CWB, the much abbreviated version of the former Canadian Wheat Board. Whether this rumoured deal is a partnership or acquisition depends on who’s talking, but in reality, it doesn’t