Officials from Roquette and the Manitoba government announced plans for the company’s new pea processing plant on Jan. 18 at the provincial Legislative Building. (Shannon VanRaes photo)

Roquette counts on expanding Canadian pea output

Winnipeg | Reuters — France’s Roquette, which is building the world’s largest pea protein plant in Manitoba, is counting on the province’s farmers to boost their production to supply the $400 million factory, the company said Friday. Roquette raised eyebrows this week when it said it would build the plant in Portage la Prairie, Man., […] Read more

This is not a winter wonderland. Allison Ammeter and husband Mike will have to deal with these fababeans, pictured here on Nov. 20, in the spring.

ONE FOR THE BOOKS: Lessons learned, and a look ahead

‘Don’t wait for the perfect day’ is one of the key lessons from 2016, 
and sticking to rotations may be one for this year

Reading Time: 6 minutes Allison Ammeter didn’t see the inside of a combine in October. As harvest carried on across the province, Ammeter was left waiting and wondering when the rains would stop and whether she and husband Mike would finish harvest before the snow started flying. They didn’t. “We got not quite two-thirds done, which is fairly average […] Read more


Pinto beans. (Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Pinto prices strong, farmers weigh new-crop options

CNS Canada –– Manitoba pinto bean spot prices are holding steady near yearly highs, as adverse weather during the growing season scaled back production. “It was a pretty wet year, compared to the previous year,” said Dennis Lange, Manitoba Agriculture’s industry development specialist for pulse crops in Altona. Areas of southern Manitoba saw heavy rainfall […] Read more

Growing demand for plant-based proteins could drive up fababean acres, said provincial pulse unit head Mark Olson.

Fababeans get a reality check

Fabas were on a tear until this year, but experts expect the crop 
to have a solid, but modest, future in Alberta

Reading Time: 4 minutes With the sharp drop in Alberta fababean acres in 2016, has the clock struck midnight for last year’s Cinderella crop? Maybe, maybe not, says a provincial pulse expert. “I just can’t see them going away,” said Mark Olson, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry’s pulse crops unit head. “I don’t think the acres are going to go […] Read more



Harvest progress a struggle, unmelted snow remains

Alberta crop conditions as of October 25

Reading Time: < 1 minute Harvest progress continues to struggle as it improved by only a little more than one percentage point over the past week to 74.5 per cent complete and up only five percentage points over the last three weeks. Normally, harvest should be 95 per cent completed or better in all regions by this time period in […] Read more





Producers wait on the weather to cooperate to resume harvest

Alberta crop conditions as of October 18

Reading Time: 2 minutes Fields in the North West, North East and Peace Regions as well as some areas in the Central Region received some more snow over the past weekend. Consequently, harvesting operations were practically at a standstill, changing less than one per cent provincially from last week with about 73 per cent of the crops now in […] Read more