Forecast calls for record canola acres, output

Canola futures on the ICE Futures Canada trading platform were mixed during the week ended Jan. 20, with the nearby months seeing small gains while the deferred values were slightly weaker. A continued strong export lineup at Canada’s West Coast, along with strong domestic demand from the processing sector, helped to generate some of the

4-H’s 100th: Celebrations launched at Ag Days

Let the party begin. Manitoba 4-H Council leaders rolled out their plans during Ag Days last week for celebrations leading up to the 100th anniversary of 4-H in Canada. “Manitoba has a very special relationship to 4-H with Roland being the birthplace of 4-H in Canada,” said Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Minister Ron


Buth accepts Senate appointment

The Canola Council of Canada is looking for a new president as JoAnne Buth heads for Ottawa to sit as a member of Canada’s Senate. Buth was one of seven Senate appointments announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper Jan. 7. She fills the seat previously held by Sharon Carstairs as one of Manitoba’s representatives in

Bigger U.S. subsidy cuts considered

Congress could slash U.S. farm subsidies far more than expected, perhaps by twice as much as proposed two months ago, to help trim the federal deficit, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Jan. 8. “It could be $23 billion. It could be $48 billion. It could be $33 billion,” Vilsack said on the sidelines of the


Dry winter a worry for cattle, winter wheat

Canada’s western farm belt is the driest it has been in five years, raising concerns for cattle and winter cereals. Large pockets of the Prairie provinces have received less than 40 per cent of normal precipitation during the past three months, according to federal Agriculture Department maps. “We have a lot of winter ahead of

Dry winter a worry for cattle, winter wheat

Canada’s western farm belt is the driest it has been in five years, raising concerns for cattle and winter cereals. Large pockets of the Prairie provinces have received less than 40 per cent of normal precipitation during the past three months, according to federal Agriculture Department maps. “We have a lot of winter ahead of


Brazil Claims Soybean Export Crown

CHICAGO / SAO PAULO / REUTERS Brazil will wrest the mantle of the wor ld s top soybean exporter from the United States in the coming year, in the latest sign of America s slowly diminishing role in global food trade. Just months after data showed the United States would supply less than half of

China Tops Canada As Top U.S. Farm Export Market

brief washington /reuters China, the world s largest importer of cotton and soybeans, has topped Canada to become the No. 1 market for U.S. farm exports for the first time, the Agriculture Department said Nov. 10. U.S. exporters sold $20 billion in agricultural products to China during the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30,


U.S. Senate Votes End Farm Subsidies To People Earning $1 Million

WAS HINGTON / REUTERS / The U.S. Senate has passed a bill to bar farm subsidies to wealthy Americans. The provision in a funding bill would halt subsidies to people with more than $1 million a year in adjusted gross income. It must be reconciled with House legislation, which has no limit, before becoming law.

What Parliament Giveth, Parliament Can Taketh Away

There are many things wrong with the way that the Conservative government has handled the wheat board issue. The decision has been made on purely ideological grounds, without even so much as a departmental review, let alone a proper study by an independent commission. That didn t need to be a review of whether to