Hay is here, markets are there

The hay is here, it’s moving it that’s the problem. The Tyrchniewicz report found that the Manitoba and Saskatchewan forage industry has sufficient quality and quantities of forage for export markets, the spotty availability of up-to-date market intelligence and a lack of compressing, pelleting and cubing facilities hinders the export trade. Portage la Prairie and



South American soy crop outlook worsens

Hamburg / Reuters /Soybean crops in Argentina and Brazil have suffered from more poor weather and harvest forecasts for the two countries may have to be cut by a combined two million to three million tonnes, Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts Oil World said April 3. “New reports have been received confirming additional crop losses, further eroding



New technology focuses on native gene manipulation

The pace of canola seed innovation has increased dramatically over the last 10 years, but that doesn’t mean the industry can take a break or rest on its laurels. As canola production and consumption has increased over the last four or five years, the amount of soybean oil used worldwide has dropped by four billion

Organic hemp a money-maker

Manitoba organic farmers could be reaping excellent returns from the “green buffalo,” according to the co-founder of the world’s largest vertically integrated hemp food-processing facility based in Winnipeg. Only five per cent of the 7,000 acres of organic hemp seed contracted each year by Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods and Oils comes from its home province,


Market access to China key to expanding Canadian canola exports

Tariff issues push blackleg concerns aside as Canada works to negotiate better access to China’s growing market

If you’re thinking of heading into the canola markets, it might be time to brush up on your Mandarin and Cantonese. China and its growing economic influence featured prominently during discussion on growing export markets at the Canola Council of Canada’s (CCC) convention in the American capital, largely because it is expected to feature prominently

Maggots eyed as animal feed

Reuters / Families tucking into a Sunday roast dinner may not relish the idea of animals fattened on maggots, but a British entrepreneur in South Africa believes they’re a viable protein-rich animal feed alternative. AgriProtein Technologies plans to set up the world’s first large-scale factory in South Africa to produce “Magmeal,” an organic and sustainable


Alberta firm records first alfalfa sale to China

Staff / Green Prairie International, a global wholesale supplier of quality forage products located in Alberta, has become the first Canadian company to ship alfalfa into the Chinese market. Twenty containers of Canadian alfalfa hay have been shipped to China and 40 more containers have been ordered; the total estimated $600,000, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz

Syria needs to import more grain milan / reuters / Syria, hit by a civil unrest, needs to raise cereals import by about a third in the current marketing year after its local grain output 10 per cent dropped in 2011, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said March 14. “Continued civil unrest