Canadian Hog-Farming Veterans Selling Out

Canada’s hog industry faces its biggest crisis in 60 years, forcing many farmers to cut their losses by selling their herds – if they can sell them at all. The industry is reeling from high feed prices, a buoyant Canadian dollar, smaller exports to the United States and a disastrous association with the H1N1 flu

Cigi Program In Its 42Nd Year

Re p r e s e n t a t i v e s from 12 countries are attending the 42nd International Grain Industry Program at the Canadian International Grains Institute (CIGI) in Winnipeg. The two-week program that begins July 6 features classroom and technical demonstrations on Canadian grains for international customers. The sessions will


Survey Says Support Up For CWB

Support for the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) is up according to the CWB’s most recent survey of farmers. That’s not what usually happens following the kind of controversy swirling around the marketing issue, says David Herle, a partner in the polling firm Gandalf Group that conducted the survey. “Normally in my experience when something becomes

CPR’s Revenue Cap Overage Reduced Due To Court Ruling

Although the WGRF regrets the loss of any revenue, it knows overages it collects from the railways is farmers’ money. Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) didn’t overcharge western farmers for hauling their grain during the 2007-08 crop year by quite as much as first determined by the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA). As a result, the Western


Grain Freight Charges Should Drop Next Crop… In Theory

Western farmers, on average, should pay 7.4 per cent less to move their grain to export in the 2009-10 crop year that starts Aug. 1 due mainly to lower railway fuel costs, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) announced April 30. Assuming normal grain-shipping volumes, farmers collectively should, on average, pay $28.41 a tonne to ship

Flooding Reroutes Trains

The risk of flooding along the Red River has forced Canadian Pacific Railway to reroute shipments, including grain, that normally flow from Canada into North Dakota. Starting April 3, CPR was rerouting trains from Winnipeg west to Saskatchewan and into North Dakota, said Mike LoVecchio, spokesman for the railway. The change adds “a large detour”


Wheat Board Prepares For A Diminished Grain Commission

“(The amendments are intended to) only regulate where necessary and to devolve programs or services that would be appropriately provided by the private sector…” – jim smolik, cgc commissioner Call it “Plan B.” With the Conservative government’s Bill C-13 proposing to reduce the role of the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC), the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB)

MP Wrong About CWB Contingency Fund

News that Prairie farmers earned a record $7.2 billion through the Canadian Wheat Board last year was buried last week beneath allegations that the board had mismanaged the Producer Payments Options program (PPO). Conservative MP David Anderson charged the board lost $130 million of farmers’ money, an allegation CWB chair Larry Hill says is untrue


CWB Pool / from age 1

“… the 07-08 crop year was a great case study for the advantages of single desk (selling) and pooled pricing.” – maureen fitzhenry was $510.35 a tonne ($13.99 a bushel), more than double the 2006-07 return. After deductions the average Manitoba return is $12.67 a bushel. The in-store return for Special Select two-row and six-row

Weak dollar helps meat exports

Canada’s exports of pork and beef have been helped by the devaluation of the Canadian dollar, but the recent implementation of the U. S. government’s country-of-origin labelling law, or COOL, has negated some of the benefits, according to industry participants. “Canada’s pork and beef producers get paid in Canadian dollars and because all of the