Gary Martens photos: supplied

The view from Northern Blossom Farms

A university instructor is turning his nano farm into a living laboratory for sustainable farming systems

I spoke to a number of young farmers recently and learned that they are questioning the business decision that every farmer makes every year: Hold $2 million in assets, invest another $250,000 cash in a crop in order to get $60,000 profit. And that is if everything goes right, which it typically doesn’t. What is

Nerves on edge as spring thaw remains elusive

It’s too early to start grumbling about another “year without summer” like 2004, but the forecast for the next month is for more colder-than-normal weather. That’s the far-from-reassuring word from Peter Cherneski, manager of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s climate monitoring and forecasting service. “It is unique,” said Cherneski. “The low temperatures that we’ve seen through



KAP counting on new checkoff legislation this spring

Keystone Agricultural Producers’ (KAP) membership and revenues could more than double if the Manitoba government comes through with legislation this spring to revamp the general farm organization’s checkoff system, the organization’s president says. “(Agriculture) Minister (Ron) Kostyshyn has committed to me they will move forward with something in the spring session,” Doug Chorney said in


KAP opposes $5,000 cap on farmland education tax rebates

The new $5,000 cap on farmland education tax rebates the Manitoba government announced in last week’s budget should be scrapped, farmers meeting here last week said. A resolution to lobby the government to reverse changes to the program passed at the Keystone Agricultural Producers’ general council meeting April 18. “If you take a look at



Pig producers hoping for a bumper corn crop in U.S. Midwest

Pork prices have risen and if sky-high feed prices come back to earth, then hard-hit 
producers may get ‘some profit back,’ says the head of the Manitoba Pork Council

Hog producers could see some relief from high feed costs this year, but not in time for summer, says the chair of the Manitoba Pork Council. “All signs are for a record corn acreage to be sown in the U.S. this spring, which could really bring some relief to the feed grain prices this fall,”

Step by step, Kenyan farmers are improving their lot

The farms seem impossibly small and the challenges overwhelmingly huge, but Kenyans are 
creating marketing chains, improving productivity and even doing value added

Kenya’s story is a familiar one in African agriculture: Small farms, a great need for more production, and yet a high amount of post-harvest waste — often because farmers simply can’t get their product to market. But things are changing. “Kenyans need to do it themselves,” says Rien Geuze, agribusiness adviser for Agriterra, a Dutch


FCC reports rise in Manitoba farmland values

Astrong agricultural economy fuelled by low interest rates, growing world food demand and resulting higher commodity prices, continue to underpin a national increase in average farmland values. The average value of farmland in Manitoba increased by 13.9 per cent during the second half of 2012, according to a new Farm Credit Canada. The latest increase

Canadian farmers in a good place, bank says

Agood harvest last year has put Canadian farmers in the driver’s seat for this year as steady production growth should lead to strong exports to emerging markets, says an analysis from BMO. “Rapid economic expansion in emerging markets and lagging demand growth from south of the border has resulted in increasing export market diversification,” Aaron