Reading Time: 3 minutes Some grain handlers are refusing to accept CWB grain deliveries and promising better grades to farmers who bypass the new voluntary board, farmers said during a recent conference call with CWB officials Oct. 17. During the conference-call meeting with more than 3,200 farmers, an Alberta producer (who identified himself only as John) said elevator employees […] Read more
Complaints about delivering CWB grain
Grain commission fees poised to jump 44 per cent
User pay Despite shaving $20 million in costs, the CGC proposes big increase in fees so Ottawa no longer has to pay the bill
Reading Time: 3 minutes In its government-ordered drive to cost recovery, the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) wants the grain industry to pay an extra $16.7 million a year in user fees effective Aug. 2013. That’s a 44 per cent increase amounting to an extra $1.38 a tonne on total CGC-inspected Canadian grain exports. Some fees will skyrocket. For example, […] Read moreWestern alfalfa seed industry not ready for Roundup
Coexistence Efforts are underway to find ways GM alfalfa can be grown in Eastern Canada
Reading Time: 3 minutes Efforts to commercialize genetically modified (GM) Roundup Ready alfalfa in Eastern Canada can’t be done without harming forage seed exports from Western Canada, according to Manitoba forage seed officials. “I’m very concerned because I do not believe there’s any way to restrict the seed to Eastern Canada,” Kurt Shmon, president of Winnipeg-based Imperial Seed, said […] Read moreIndustry surprised Grain Act amendments don’t go further
CGC mandate Expected changes to the Canadian Grain Commission aren’t part of the new legislation
Reading Time: 3 minutes Most of the amendments to the Canada Grain Act tabled in the House of Commons last month were expected. What wasn’t is that the changes cutting the 100-year-old Canadian Grain Commission’s (CGC) role in the grain industry were buried in the controversial 457-page omnibus budget implementation bill. The legislation doesn’t change the CGC’s mandate or […] Read moreManitoba micronutrient company picks up award
guarantee The firm says that if its products are applied properly, it will remedy any nutrient deficiencies
Reading Time: 3 minutes Wolf Trax Innovative Micronutrients is one of those overnight successes 14 or more years in the making. The Winnipeg-based firm and recent recipient of the Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation Innovation Award, has been quietly building sales of its patented Dry Dispersible Powder (DDP) micronutrient fertilizer coating in 75 regulatory regions, including the U.S., Mexico […] Read moreWestern seed industry worried about Roundup Ready alfalfa
Efforts to commercialize genetically modified (GM) Roundup Ready alfalfa in Eastern Canada can’t be done without harming forage seed exports from Western Canada, according Manitoba forage seed officials. "I’m very concerned because I do not believe there’s any way to restrict the seed to eastern Canada," Kurt Shmon, president of Winnipeg-based Imperial Seed, said in […] Read more
Growing business prompts Richardson’s to expand Vancouver grain terminal
expansion Capacity has been maxed out the last four years and the company expects business to keep growing
Reading Time: 2 minutes Richardson International plans to expand its 108,000-tonne Vancouver grain export terminal by 65 per cent to keep up with its growing business, the Winnipeg-based company announced last week. “Obviously with the changes to the Canadian Wheat Board it’s a much more competitive landscape, but there are also a lot more opportunities,” Tracey Shelton, Richardson International’s […] Read moreRitz defends farm support cuts
Reading Time: 3 minutes Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz has defended his government’s move to cut direct farm supports, as farm leaders and even one of his provincial counterparts complained they were blindsided. Ritz told reporters at the Canadian Farm Writers Federation conference in Winnipeg that the existing design of programs like AgriStability may be in fact destabilizing the sector. […] Read more
New CWB has role in open market
Reading Time: 2 minutes Western farmers have long been divided over the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly, but farmers on both sides of the debate can agree the new CWB’s role is to add competition to the marketplace, says CWB vice-president for grain procurement Gord Flaten. The CWB provides farmers with the option to pool wheat, durum and barley sales, […] Read more
Ritz rejects aid for hog producers
Contract protection Ontario pig producers are faring better than those in the West, says FCC’s Lyndon Carlson
Reading Time: 3 minutes Federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz is monitoring the financial problems facing hog producers, but he’s not prepared to offer the ad hoc assistance some are seeking for the industry. “Well, I’m not a big proponent of ad hoc programs,” Ritz told reporters Sept. 22 after speaking at the Canadian Farm Writers Federation’s (CFWF) annual meeting […] Read moreCyber-Savvy Farmer
