Bin maker posts record quarter

Vicwest Income Fund, owners of Winnipeg grain bin maker Westeel, reported a record quarter based partly on “record output” from its agricultural storage business. The Oakville, Ont. income trust last week posted $16.3 million in net income on revenues of $126.38 million for its quarter ending Sept. 30, up from $11 million on $101.05 million

No bail-out for ethanol makers

The U. S. government would waste its money on ethanol, “the Fuel to Nowhere,” if it uses a loan guarantee program to prop up struggling ethanol makers, said officials from anti-waste groups Oct. 20. The officials criticized the prospect that ethanol makers could obtain up to US$25 million in bank loans carrying an Agriculture Department


Prices plunge for big U. S. corn, soy crops

U. S. farmers will reap two of their largest corn and soybean crops ever – 12.200 billion bushels of corn and 2.983 billion bushels of soybeans – but face sharply lower prices at the farm gate, the government said Oct. 10. The Agriculture Department cut its estimate of the season-average price for this year’s soybean