Leigh Syms, retired associate curator of archeology at the Manitoba Museum, holds a replica of a bone hoe once used by First Nations farmers.   Photo: Shannon VanRaes

Manitoba’s agriculture history started long before the sodbusters arrived

Researchers say plants such as lamb’s quarters aren’t here by accident, and growing corn goes back more than a millennium

Does it ever seem that unrelenting weeds such as lamb’s quarters and amaranth were somehow bred to thrive on the Canadian Prairie? In fact, they were. But if you think corn is a new crop in this part of the world, think again — Aboriginal farmers were growing it more than a millennium ago. Technology

The crisis deepens in the West Australian wheat lands

One economist says that if rural Australia were a member country of the euro zone, 
international financial markets would be refusing to finance the sector

The closer West Australian farmers get to seeding time, which is any time after the end of April, the more intense the debate becomes whether the eastern Wheat Belt will ever be the same again. Now there are reports of farmers abandoning their land and walking off. Enough is enough for some. The old men


China set for record corn imports on crop damage

Reuters / China is likely to import a record volume of corn in the next marketing year, as the world’s second-largest consumer takes advantage of a fall in global prices and after the domestic crop suffered damage from mould and wet weather delayed plantings. Imports are expected to reach between six million and seven million

Black Sea 2013-14 grain exports to rebound

moscow/kiev / reuters The Black Sea region’s top three grain producers — Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan — will see output and potential export volumes restored in the 2013-14 marketing year with improved weather conditions benefiting crops. The three countries were hit by drought in 2012 which slashed their combined grain crop by one-third to 130


Seaway raises tolls after five-year freeze

Tolls on the St. Lawrence Seaway are going up by three per cent this year. It’s the first hike in six years, and the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation says the increase will help fund infrastructure renewal, efforts to reduce system costs, and marketing efforts. A late-season surge in Prairie grain exports last fall pushed



India to prioritize wheat exports to grapple with grain mountain

Increased exports could weigh on global grain prices at a time when 
many exporters are expecting a return to better harvests

Reuters / India will do everything it can to push record volumes of wheat on to the global market to cut massive stocks, a senior Farm Ministry official said March 6, in a move that could hit shipments of other grains using rail and congested ports. The world’s No. 2 wheat producer is expecting another

From a tourist’s view

A trip to the beaches of Varadero, Cuba may be what you’re dreaming of. But perhaps, after some time in the sun, you might want more — to see the ‘real’ Cuba, outside of the all-inclusive resort strip. My husband and I recently spent two weeks on the tropical island. We admired the fabulous Varadero


South Korea offers loans to squeezed farmers

seoul / reuters / South Korea will offer $156 million in soft loans this year to farmers squeezed by record prices of feed grain and a weak domestic market for pork, the Agriculture Ministry said on Feb. 28. Livestock farmers in South Korea, the world’s third-largest importer of corn and a leading buyer of soybean