Canada beef warning broadened to new products

Reuters / A public warning in Canada about beef possibly tainted with E. coli has been updated to include additional products. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) released a list of dozens of products Sept. 30 made from beef voluntarily recalled by XL Foods, whose plant in Brooks, Alberta, was temporarily shut by the agency

Growing projects nearing completion

The final tally isn’t in yet, but 2012 may yet prove to be a record year for revenues generated by growing projects in support of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Good prices and good crops mean higher than ever grain incomes are anticipated, said Harold Penner, CFGB Manitoba resource co-ordinator. More soybeans and corn, and for


Thankful for the simple things

Some of the most simple things in life are what bring joy and warmth. I had been reminiscing and telling my granddaughter about the good old days and how my mother would grow her own corn for popcorn, dry the cobs and then with a wringing motion, remove the kernels that would fall into a

Higher U.S. wheat plantings likely — and needed

Production problems haven’t left markets short yet but that could change if Australian growers 
continue to suffer from a lack of rainfall, which would set the stage for a wheat rally

Reuters / Stubbornly high prices have served to keep U.S. wheat out of contention on the export market in recent months, but a broad jump in winter wheat acreage coupled with growing overseas demand could change that picture. It’s no surprise that farmers in top hard red wheat states such as Kansas are upping their


Aflatoxin corn allowed in U.S. livestock feed

Aflatoxin contamination prompted a series of U.S. 
pet food and livestock feed recalls last December

Reuters / The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will allow grain handlers in Iowa and Illinois to blend corn containing aflatoxin, a naturally occurring toxic substance, with other grain to make animal feed. Aflatoxin is the byproduct of a corn mold that tends to spread in drought years. Following the worst drought in the Corn

Harvest nears completion, pastures are done

Weekly Provincial Summary  Good harvest weather allowed for excellent harvest progress across Manitoba. Harvest continues on the remaining flax, soybean, grain and silage corn, industrial hemp, alfalfa seed and potato acres.  Sunflower harvest is just underway across Manitoba.  The earliest seeded winter wheat has emerged but precipitation would help with germination and stand establishment.  Precipitation


New website for info on Prairie checkoffs

The Alberta Barley Commission (ABC) recently launched a new website to help western Canadian grain farmers and buyers better understand the new collection system for the wheat and barley checkoff. The website, www.wheatbarleycheckoff.com, provides information about the checkoff, the remittance process, reporting procedures and answers frequently asked questions. In accordance with the federal “Regulations Respecting

New CWB has role in open market

Western farmers have long been divided over the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly, but farmers on both sides of the debate can agree the new CWB’s role is to add competition to the marketplace, says CWB vice-president for grain procurement Gord Flaten. The CWB provides farmers with the option to pool wheat, durum and barley sales,