Monsanto, DuPont settle lawsuits, set new $1.75-billion deal

The companies have dropped their lawsuits against each other and agreed 
to work together delivering new technology to farmers

Reuters / Monsanto Co. and DuPont have settled a bitter legal battle over rights to technology for genetically modified seeds and will drop antitrust and patent claims against each other while forging a new collaboration, the companies said March 26. The deal tosses out a $1-billion jury verdict DuPont was ordered to pay Monsanto last August. Instead,

Sweat like a pig for a bacon sandwich

A Toronto restaurant is offering a 30 per cent discount on bacon sandwiches to customers who run or cycle a course through city streets that is shaped like a pig. Rashers, billed as North America’s only bacon-only shop, is urging exercisers to recoup their “hard-burned” calories by stopping by the shop for a post-workout sandwich.


Southern U.S. farmers set fast corn-planting pace

chicago / reuters Farmers in southern areas of the United States were ahead of the typical corn-planting schedule as dry weather allowed them to access their fields earlier than usual, government reports showed March 25. In Louisiana, farmers had already planted 86 per cent of their corn crop, up from 56 per cent last week

Non-nutritive sweeteners

Every now and then, someone emails me a story that is circulating on the Internet or Facebook. One day, the information was about artificial sweeteners. I happened to have a can of diet soda next to me. After reading the article, I could imagine the can of pop sprouting legs and clawed hands and then


Which crop is your biggest money-maker?

Based on MAFRI cost-of-production estimates, winter wheat tops the charts 
followed by soybeans, sunflowers, and canola

With highly variable costs and prices, choosing the most profitable crop to grow each spring is a bit like throwing darts at a moving target. But farmers who seeded winter wheat last fall will be pleased to hear that their dart is likely to land dead centre, says Gary Smart, a farm management specialist with

Recipe Swap: It’s spring (no, really)!

T.S. Eliot said April is the cruelest month, but the American poet and playwright didn’t live in Manitoba.  March is meaner and just because we’re done with winter, doesn’t mean winter is done with us. Teased one day with rising temperatures, we’re punched down the next with more snow and ice. Meanwhile, spring is a



Arysta launches broadleaf/grass/burndown combo

Arysta LifeScience has launched Inferno Duo Herbicide for spring wheat growers in Canada. Arysta says it combines the enhanced broadleaf activity of tribenuron (the same active ingredient in Express SG) with broadleaf and longer-lasting soil activity on grasses of flucarbazone. Inferno Duo also provides wide-spectrum burndown when mixed with glyphosate. “Together with glyphosate, Inferno Duo


New WCWGA president

Staff / The Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association has elected Levi Wood of Pense, Sask. as its new president. Wood, who farms with his father on a fifth-generation farm, replaces Kevin Bender, who stepped down after four years at the association’s convention in January. Wood graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a degree in

Anxiety rises over possible Prairie seeding delays

ICE Futures Canada canola contracts posted good gains during the week ended March 22, as solid end-user demand, the weaker Canadian dollar, a slowdown in farmer selling, bullish technical signals, ongoing concerns over tightening old-crop supplies, new concerns over possible planting delays this spring, and logistical issues moving soybeans out of South America all served