woman dressed in white, food-processing clothing

Campbell’s for Christmas?

Kelly Beaulieu hopes to sign contracts with a couple of food industry giants in the next couple of weeks

Kelly Beaulieu’s idea for converting the nutrition from vegetables that would otherwise be thrown away into a tasty food product has caught the eye of some big names in the processed food business. Beaulieu’s company, Canadian Prairie Garden Purees, has recently received letters of intent to purchase from Nestle and Campbell’s after sending them samples.

People making millet pancakes in a kitchen.

Will it be millet?

It’s time for the Great Manitoba Food Fight and St. Claude’s Millet King 
is among 10 contestants hoping for a taste of victory

It’s technically a seed, but categorized as a grain because it’s one of the world’s most commonly cooked and eaten staples. Yet North Americans have either never heard of millet, or know it as livestock feed or birdseed. Gluten-free, nutritious millet has a fighting chance to gain popularity with health-conscious consumers too, says a Manitoba


Dairy farmer Lisa Dyck launched a line of hand-crafted ice creams made from milk from the dairy farm she and her husband own between Beausejour and Anola.  photo: lorraine stevenson

Made-in-Manitoba ice cream flying off store shelves

Customers are happily forking over between $11 and $12 
for a litre of this premium, made-in-Manitoba ice cream

Lisa Dyck is going lickity split as summer arrives, ramping up production of a cool treat Manitobans haven’t tasted in a long time — made-in-Manitoba ice cream. This spring the Anola-area dairy producer launched Cornell Creme, a premium ice cream made from the milk of the 120 cows that she and husband William Dyck milk.

Pilot Mound prosciutto wins gold at food fight

Thin slivers of dry-cured ham passed the ultimate taste test, earning its creator a grand prize of $10,000 at the Great Manitoba Food Fight April 18. Clinton Cavers used recipes borrowed from his Italian friends to create the gold-medal-winning ‘old world recipe’ prosciutto, made from pork raised outdoors and processed in a meat shop on

Food Development Centre eyes increased cost recovery

The Manitoba Food Development Centre in Portage la Prairie has raised its rates for the first time in 14 years. Manitoba clients recently saw their rates increase by five per cent, while out-of-province clients have experienced a 13 per cent increase. “These increases are needed to ensure it is recovering cost and to more accurately


Province cuts ag spending

The province is cutting $1 million in funding for a program that helps livestock producers meet its new manure-spreading regulations. But a government spokeswoman for Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn called the reduction “a savings and not a cut” because the Manure Management Financial Assistance Program (MMFAP), which runs until March 2014, had lower-than-anticipated uptake. That

New food products head to school

New food products head to school NuEats brand part of Manitoba Agri-Health Research Network’s effort to promote functional foods made from Manitoba-grown ingredients Barley waffles and tortilla chips, a yogurt-granola bar, and sundaes topped with saskatoons and oatmeal are some of the made-in-Manitoba foods headed to university this month — for a taste test. If



Fish dish wins gold at Food Fight

Anew table-ready fish product called Walleye Wonders knocked out the competition at this year’s Great Manitoba Food Fight and earned Meda Olson first place and $15,000 worth of research-and-development expertise from the Food Development Centre. “I knew I had a good product that’s different,” said Olson, a homemaker from St. Martin in the northern Interlake

Full steam ahead for Portage food processor

The founder of a Portage la Prairie company that uses culled fruits and veggies for baby foods, soups and other foods expects to create 60 new jobs after receiving a $2.5-million federal government loan. Kelly Beaulieu said her company, Canadian Prairie Garden Purée Products, will also utilize large amounts of “less than eye perfect” fruits