Farmers head to school for Canadian Agricultural Literacy Week

It’s often said farmers speak their own language, but schoolkids in nine provinces might soon understand it a little better thanks to Canadian Agricultural Literacy Week. Hundreds of farmers will be going back to school Feb. 26 to March 3 to talk to children and read from selected books telling stories about food and farming

Letters — for Feb. 2, 2012

Are court cases really baseless Mr. Ritz? It was really quite funny to watch the minister of agriculture strut around in front of his flock at the recent Western Canadian Wheat Growers conference. He used his bully pulpit to call the recent court cases, against his government implementing legislation dismantling of the Canadian Wheat Board’s


Breakfast of champions

The bodies and minds of students at two area communities were nourished when the famous Made in Manitoba Breakfast program was featured, connecting students to where that food came from. The breakfast and agriculture education program is one of a number run by Agriculture in the Classroom-Manitoba Inc. (AITC-M), a non-profit organization supported by individuals

Education a key part of Ag Days

Manitoba Ag Days isn’t just the premier agricultural show in Manitoba; it’s also a fun and educational field trip destination. Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC) brings 150 to 200 Grade 7 and 8 students to the show each day from schools across Manitoba, providing them a unique opportunity to learn more about the people who


Bigger U.S. subsidy cuts considered

Congress could slash U.S. farm subsidies far more than expected, perhaps by twice as much as proposed two months ago, to help trim the federal deficit, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Jan. 8. “It could be $23 billion. It could be $48 billion. It could be $33 billion,” Vilsack said on the sidelines of the

U.S. Farm Subsidy Reform Favours Midwest

A plan to reform farm subsidies by guaranteeing revenue levels for farmers is a good deal for corn and soybeans growers but unfair to the rest of the country, senators from wheat states said. The senators demanded changes in a package drawn up by the chairs of the House and Senate agriculture committees. Those leaders


OUR HISTORY: October 5, 1961

Cattle marketings up& Drought was responsible for a sharp increase in the number of grazing livestock delivered to the Western Livestock Co-operative (Western) Ltd. Crop estimates revised& The wheat crop for all of Canada was estimated at 260 million bushels. Egg price support hiked& In the pre-supply management era, farmers were receiving federal deficiency payments

Just Don’t Reach For The Ketchup Or Mayo

The American Chemical Society reports that just a couple of servings of spuds a day reduces blood pressure almost as much as oatmeal without causing weight gain. But don t reach for the ketchup, vinegar or mayonnaise. The research was not done with French fries, but with potatoes cooked without oil in a microwave oven.


Soybeans Chasing Canola’s High-Stability Oil Markets

High-stability canola oil is gaining market share in food services and food manufacturing, but the soybean industry is fighting back. In 2010 the United States Department of Agriculture granted Monsanto’s new Vistive Gold soybean “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) status. Now companies can test Vistive Gold’s high-oleic oil in food, a prerequisite to commercialization. And

CME Hogs Drop Seven Per Cent In August

CHICAGO/REUTERS U.S. hog futures on Aug. 31 finished down seven per cent for the month, livestock traders said. With the onset of cooler weather, hog weights have rebounded and put more hogs in hands of packers to pump more pork into the retail sector. In early August, the Midwest was in the grip of a