Flax Is Fabulous For Food

“Nobody else in the world can do it – take the oil, put it in a bottle and keep it stable for the period of time that we can.” – JIM DOWNEY Ask Jim Downey, CEO of Brandon-based Shape Foods, why he’s so energized and the former deputy premier and Progressive Conservative MLA for Arthur,

Be Bold, Not Balanced

B y most accounts, the Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council’s 2010 annual meeting was well attended, full of new members and democratically run. Those are all signs of a healthy organization – at least on the surface. So why the hard feelings? A former director went home bitter after the nominating committee did not renew her


An Alternative Solution To The Cattle Crisis

I suggest we have been suckered into export dependency and are now trapped on a treadmill of keeping more cattle to make up for declining margins. Many people have been pondering the question of whether there is a future for beef production in Canada. We are continually told that there is light at the end

The Jacksons – for Apr. 1, 2010

The 21st day of March is rarely a good day for a barbecue in Manitoba. Even Gretna, the unofficial hot spot of the province (some would say of the entire country) is often downright cold and unpleasant on the first day of spring. And in a normal year, there is liable to be several feet


Food Makers Support More U. S. Control Of School Food

Four major food and beverage makers announced support March 18 for legislation expanding U. S. control over snacks sold at schools and allowing the government to ban junk food from campuses. It would be the first crackdown on school snacks in three decades but the compromi se stops short of proposals, made in the past,

Noxious Or Necessary?

Phosphorus is not an evil pollutant – in fact it is a foundational building block for the DNA and RNA of all living things, even viruses, and is absolutely necessary for plants to capture energy of the sun through photosynthesis. “A reporter asked me a year ago, ‘Is there a substitute for phosphorus?’” said Flaten.


Agri-Food Exporters Caught In Ocean Shipping Shortage

Agri-food exporters are among the groups caught in a shortage of ocean shipping capacity that threatens Canada’s economic recovery, warns a Montreal freight forwarder. The dearth of export container capacity from Canadian ports “is more harmful to the recovery of our economy than the high value of the loonie,” says Jean-Paul Gobeil, director of international

Canola And Peas “Love” Each Other

Results from intercropping trials are showing that planting two crops together offers higher yields than monocultures. It’s old hat for organic farmers, who have been seeding cover and relay crops since the days when Grandpa seeded peas and oats together, harvested them with a horse-drawn binder, and pitched the sheaves off a hayrack to his


Organic Foods Finding A Niche, But That’s All

The wave of organic packaged foods may have crested at mainstream retailers. Organic foods and beverages are pulling back from startling growth levels in recent years and settling into a small niche space at mainstream retailers, food industry executives and analysts said while attending the recent Reuters Food Summit. The recession put a halt to

The Cookbook That Slowed The River

Recipe Requests We’ve had several requests for recipes in the last couple of weeks including one from June Carter of Winnipeg who is looking for a recipe for Chinese Stew, from Trinia Kell of Elm Creek who is seeking creamy homemade candy recipes using milk powder, and Betty Nicholls of Portage la Prairie who would