Ethanol output to drop 10 per cent

U.S. ethanol production will fall by 10 per cent in the coming year as rising prices from the drought cut exports in half, a University of Missouri think-tank forecast on Aug. 28. The Obama administration is weighing whether to relax a requirement to use corn-based ethanol in gasoline as meat and dairy farmers complain that

UN urges change in U.S. biofuel policy to avoid food crisis

The United Nations’ food agency stepped up the pressure on the United States on Aug. 10 to change its biofuel policies because of the danger of a world food crisis, arguing the importance of growing crops for food over their use for fuel. Global alarm over the potential for a food crisis of the kind


Fossil fuel decline could change the outlook for perennial grains

Conservation and agriculture need not be at loggerheads in the fight to preserve and restore the tattered remains of North America’s Prairie grasslands. “We can have conservation as a result of (agricultural) production,” Wes Jackson, founder of The Land Institute, told participants at the North American Prairie Conference via Skype. A proponent and developer of

World powers weigh emergency meeting on food prices

Leaders want to avoid grain export embargoes that factored 
into global shortages and political instability in 2008.

Leading members of the Group of 20 nations are prepared to trigger an emergency meeting to tackle soaring grain prices caused by the worst U.S. drought in half a century and poor crops from the Black Sea bread basket. France, the United States and G20 president Mexico will hold a conference call at the end



Agriculture Hall of Fame

Five Manitobans were honoured for their contribution to agriculture and their community at an induction ceremony for the Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame July 12. The Co-operator is featuring each in consecutive weekly editions.

Herb Lapp was born and raised on a farm at Alameda, Saskatchewan. He served in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a pilot during the Second World War. In 1949, he graduated in agricultural engineering from the University of Saskatchewan. In 1962, he obtained an MS in agricultural engineering from the University of Minnesota. Herb


Cross-Canada tractor pull

Little house on the trailer: Couple travels across the nation to document 
farmers’ stories and speak to city dwellers about rural issues

A crowd is forming in the downtown Winnipeg parking lot, but it can’t obscure what has sparked the interest — a small red tractor pulling a tiny farmhouse. For more than a year that tiny farmhouse — veranda included — has been home to John Varty and his fiancée Molly Daley. The couple is driving

Know your plants: Understanding how grasses grow is key to maximizing pasture production

Grazing expert says producers need to gauge “range readiness” and carefully monitor the amount of defoliation

Good pastures start with a good understanding of how plants grow. Attendees at the recent Original Grazing School for Women were given some key pointers by Edward Bork, who is director of the Rangeland Research Institute at the University of Alberta and also operates a grain and beef operation with his family near Chipman. Grasses


Looks good, smells good, isn’t good

An Alberta Agriculture beef specialist says that ideal growing conditions in many areas should mean above-average first-cut hay yields, but nutrient content is another matter. “With higher yields, the nutrients available from the soil are distributed in the plant material, and nutrients are diluted down and are not as concentrated as in other years,” Barry

Warm weather to continue

The first part of last week’s forecast played out pretty much as expected, but the second part of the forecast, well that was a bit of a bust! The upper area of low pressure did cross north-central Manitoba over the weekend, but it lost a fair bit of its energy as it did so. The