Monsanto Exceeds Profit Expectations

Monsanto Co., the world’s biggest seed company, posted better-than-expected profit April 2 as revenues grew in its key corn and soybean seed businesses and it benefited from a low tax rate. Monsanto, a leader in the development of genetically altered crops, said net income was $1.092 billion, or $1.97 a share for the second quarter,

Non-BRM Agreement May Help With Manure Storages

Manitoba hog producers required to expand their manure storage facilities could get some financial help from a federal-provincial agreement signed last week. The $117.5 million Growing Forward agreement between Manitoba and Ottawa includes $18.8 million for eligible beneficial management practices (BMPs) involving water and nutrient management. That should include manure storages, although the available money


China Asks To Plant Jatropha In Zambia

China has asked Zambia to plant two million hectares of jatropha in the Southern African country for production of biofuels, the Biofuels Association of Zambia (BAZ) said March 31. If agreed, the deal could become one of the biggest farming land ventures by an Asian or Middle Eastern country in Africa. “China has approached the

Jatropha Not A Miracle Crop

Jatropha, often hailed as a rich source of biodiesel that flourishes in semiarid areas of Africa, is hard to grow and often fails if farmers lack expertise, an executive of a company developing the crop said. Vincent Volckaert, the Africa regional director for biofuels technology firm D1 Oils, dismissed the idea jatropha can produce a


Biofuels Largest Market For Southern Africa Farming

Biofuels offer the biggest and most secure market for agriculture in southern Africa and could help ease the region’s electricity woes in the future, a biofuels conference heard March 31. Erhard Seilar, chief executive of the Southern African Biofuels Association, said the region’s farming sector stood to gain most from the growth of the fledgling

Bee Stings Top Concern Among Public

“How does anything survive on that kind of a schedule? That’s not the way to keep bees, I don’t think.” – MURRAY COX Do you get stung a lot? That’s the question asked by 95 per cent of the public who stop in to check out the beekeeping display at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair.


Food Security Still A Problem As Hunger Rises

A fall in grain prices has led to the impression that food security is no longer a concern, but the number of people without enough to eat is still rising in a world facing recession, the United Nations said March 31. “The level of prices is still 19 per cent above the average of 2006

Winter Manure Spreading To End For Small Hog Farms

“They’re going out of their way to push the small guys out of business.” – ANDREW DICKSON, MPC A complete ban on spreading livestock manure on fields during the winter in Manitoba will take effect four years from now. The Manitoba government has proposed a regulation to ban winter spreading on all farms by 2013,


Dairy Cows Belch, Farmers Cash In

“This is the gold standard model.” – CEDRIC MACLEOD Canada’s milk producers will soon have a new tool to reduce the carbon footprint of their dairy farms and perhaps make money in the process. A computer package developed in Atlantic Canada allows dairy farmers to calculate greenhouse gas emissions from their operations and estimate ways

Four Degrees Either Way Is A Big Deal, Says Expert

Climate change skeptics like to point out that if the weatherman can’t predict the weather with much accuracy, how can scientists be sure that global warming is actually happening? The answer is that putting together a weather forecast involves many often conflicting short-term variables. Analyzing climate trends over the long term is much easier, because