Palm Reading Hand Gesture on White Background

Comment: Reading the facts at hand — or in your palm

If you ignore bad news because you don’t want to hear it, it’s at your peril

Years ago, an enterprising neighbour operated a palm reading business from her home with just a secretary, fax machine, and telephone. Her business model was simple: After clients faxed their photocopied handprint and sent some form of payment (rumour had it, it was $20), our neighbour telephoned them with the results of the “reading.” While

Lisa Dyck with her ice cream product

Program helps more Manitoba companies reach markets

A spring launch at Red River Co-ops puts 60 new products from 17 companies on store shelves

More niche and specialty made-in-Manitoba products will catch the eye of customers with the launch of 60 additional new products through the provincial Buy Manitoba program. The Manitoba Food Processors Association (MFPA) has helped Red River Co-op stores in Winnipeg link up with more than a dozen local food companies. It means new exposure for


JBS boosting animal welfare practices at Brooks plant

Food safety put the former XL Foods beef plant in the news, but new owners JBS USA will also be bolstering animal welfare oversight at the Brooks facility. “Animal welfare is a school zone — you don’t speed through school zones,” Lily Edwards-Callaway, who oversees the company’s animal welfare systems for pork and beef, told

4-H reports

The Co-operator will publish 4-H reports once a month. Reports can be submitted by the third week of the month by email to [email protected], by regular mail to 4-H Reports, c/o Manitoba Co-operator, 1666 Dublin Ave., Winnipeg, Man. R3H 0H1, or by fax to 204-954-1422. Happy Rock Horseshoes For our Christmas party on Dec. 22,

Fiscal battles block work on new U.S. farm subsidy bill

Reuters / Fiscal battles in Congress could prevent lawmakers from writing a new Farm Bill for weeks or months, prolonging disputes over farm subsidy reforms and cuts in food stamps for the poor that together could save up to $35 billion. Agricultural leaders in Congress originally hoped for speedy work on the overdue Farm Bill


U.S. pork supplies at all-time high

Hog price recovery months away Reuters — U.S. pork production in October hit a record high as the hog slaughter surged to an all-time high of 10.86 million head. The latest USDA data shows more hogs passed through U.S. packing plants last month than ever before as farmers liquidated their herds as the worst drought in

U.S. Farm Bill could be delayed until April 2013

Reuters / The U.S. Congress could delay passage of a new five-year Farm Bill until spring planting given the full plate of legislation needed after the election to avoid a fiscal cliff with its mandatory U.S. budget cuts, a top farm policy expert said Nov. 5. “My prediction is that we will get a Farm

U.S. Thanksgiving turkey dinner to be easy on the wallet

Reuters / Americans will be able to enjoy relatively cheap Thanksgiving turkeys this year, thanks to many retailers locking in their costs before a drought this year drove up U.S. feed prices. And retailers are determined to keep prices for the traditional Thanksgiving main course as low as possible, even though sky-high corn prices have


Not all cattlemen happy with JBS deal

R-CALF USA says it’s not happy with the news JBS USA will operate and perhaps purchase XL Foods, now reopened after several weeks of being shut down due to E. coli contamination. It wasn’t just XL’s Brooks plant on the table — the deal comes with a plant in Calgary and two cow-killing plants in

TV network wants federal court to hear “pink slime” lawsuit

Reuters / ABC News wants a Federal Court to deal with a meat processor’s defamation lawsuit over reports about lean finely textured beef, a product that critics have labelled “pink slime.” Lawyers for the network filed to transfer the case, brought last month by Beef Products Inc., the leading producer of the product, from of