StatsCan Needs To Get It Right – for Sep. 9, 2010

It’s rare to find a grain farmer with anything good to say about Statistics Canada. At best, the field crop production reports are viewed as a waste of time and money. At worst, the reports are viewed as a government plot to manipulate grain prices. For each of its reports, StatsCan surveys a pile of


A Graph Would Do Nicely – for Sep. 9, 2010

Some of us in business can communicate directly with the final consumer of our product. Farmers usually aren’t so fortunate. For example, wheat goes to a grain company, then to a mill and finally to a bakery. The baker, rather than the farmer, gets to take the credit for that nice tasty loaf of bread.

Wheat Rally Hasn’t Passed Us By – for Sep. 9, 2010

The Western Canadian Wheat Growers are stuck in their own rhetorical mud and again attacking the Canadian Wheat Board (“Wheat markets up 50 per cent,”Co-operator,Aug. 12, page 1). Their charge is that western Canadian farmers are missing out on the recent rally in wheat prices. But wait a minute


Letters – for Sep. 9, 2010

It is the time for Premier Greg Selinger to show his leadership concerning the ever-expanding flood waters of the Shoal Lakes and Vestfold Ducks Unlimited Project. As of September 1 there are over 90,000 acres of farmland under the lake. Large sections of Provincial Roads 415 and 518 are under water resulting in them being

Ohio Livestock Growers Caged By Farm Groups – for Sep. 9, 2010

What was to be a clever, voter-sanctioned effort to fence out the animals- are-people-crowd in Ohio last year is, depending on your perspective, either a progressive way for farm and animal rights groups to work together toward humane livestock production or a total sellout of livestock producers by Big Ag to the Humane Society of


The $40-Billion Potash Pie – for Sep. 2, 2010

American farmers hardly noticed when, in mid- August, news broke that Australian-based BHP Billiton was willing to pay nearly $40 billion for the world’s largest fertilizer producer, Saskatchewan’s PotashCorp. The disinterest was honest; after all, who was BHP Billiton and what did it want with a Canadian fertilizer firm in the steady, if not dull,

Friends And Enemies – for Sep. 2, 2010

Mentioning R-CALF to a Canadian cattle producer has about the same effect as pulling your fingernails across a chalkboard. The Ranchers and Cattlemen Action Legal Fund was formed in 1998 to fight for the livelihoods of small U. S. ranchers. It first set its sights on rising Canadian cattle imports, which it blamed for lower


Products Of Ottawa, 2009-10 Edition – for Sep. 2, 2010

The third session of the 40th Parliament is adjourned until Sept. 20. What are the changes to federal food law since last summer? Here is a brief selection: CFIA MINISTERIAL ADVISORY BOARD Following up on the recommendation of its listeria investigator, on March 31, 2010, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz finally announced he intends to proceed

Letters – for Sep. 2, 2010

Improving animal welfare a worthy priority Ron Glaser of the Beef Information Centre, is correct when he says in the Aug. 26Manitoba Co-operatorthat the consumer hasn’t abandoned animal products in general. I am not sure who participated in his survey but I gotta tell you that for health reasons my household has definitely reduced its