Allan Dawson

Reading Time: 2 minutes Starting Dec. 1, western Canadian flax will have to be tested for the presence of genetically modified (GM) flax before elevators will accept delivery. It’s part of the protocol reached recently between Canada and the European Union (EU) to ensure the EU gets GM-free flax from Canada, says Flax Council of Canada president Barry Hall. […] Read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes “It’s our technology. We can choose who we wish to sell to and who we don’t.” – Trish Jordan Four Ontario farmers found guilty of stealing Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soybean technology are unlikely to find sympathy from fellow farmers who abided by their contracts. But Monsanto’s decision to deny those farmers all future access to […] Read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes “I have a hard time believing the world would walk away from a good (WTO) deal just because Canada wouldn’t give up the single desk.” – Larry Hill A former chair of the Canadian Wheat Board says work should begin now on a compensation package for farmers if a World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement kills […] Read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes Like a movie monster that refuses to die, CDC Triffid, a genetically modified (GM) Canadian flax deregistered in 2001, has surfaced in Germany, European Union (EU) officials believe. And flax prices have plummeted, just as farmers feared they might when they lobbied to have the variety voluntarily pulled from the market. Although the Canadian Food […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes “It works to our advantage to not have the Australian Wheat Board there because we can now offer something that others can’t.” The Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) has taken advantage of Australia’s troubles in exporting wheat following deregulation of its wheat industry, according to Rick Steinke, the CWB’s director of logistics. The Australian Wheat Board […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadian farm cash receipts, or gross revenue, fell 1.4 per cent or $307 million during the first half of 2009 to $22.3 billion, Statistics Canada announced Aug. 24. The decline is mainly due to a drop in government support payments to farmers. Market receipts from the sale of crops and livestock were up two per […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes The struggle over who controls the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) – its board of directors or the federal government – might be decided by the Supreme Court of Canada. The CWB will seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court a June 23 Federal Court of Appeal decision that restored the federal government’s “gag order,” […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes Giant ragweed could be the first “made in Canada” weed resistant to the non-selective herbicide glyphosate, so it’s worth watching out for, says University of Manitoba weed scientist Robert Gulden. Giant ragweed can be found in Manitoba, but it’s much more common in Ontario, he told a Crop Diagnostic School here in Carman, Man. last […] Read more