Reading Time: 3 minutes “(D)emand for wheat with defined and consistent quality traits will be one of the most, if not the most, important driver for wheat quality improvement in the coming two decades.” For Sale: One inexpensive but effective method of segregating different types of wheat according to quality and end-use characteristics. Well used, but in good condition. […] Read more
Wheat World Goes For Quality, Canada For Quantity
Securing A Future With Land — And Water
Reading Time: 3 minutes Some are calling this the “great land grab,” while others, have characterized it as the “great water grab.” After this year’s frosty spring, if foreign buyers came along and approached the federal government about buying up farmland on the Canadian Prairies, there’s a few farmers who’d be inclined to say, “Take it. Please.” That’s not […] Read more
Editors’ Picks: Public taken off U.K. strawberry fields
British fans of U-pick strawberries have found that not all strawberry fields are forever, the Reuters news agency reports. Strawberry producer Boddington Farm, considered one of the largest U-pick fruit farms in Britain, announced it has dropped the U-pick business after health and safety officials ordered extra safety infrastructure such as handrails between the strawberry […] Read more
PFRA — The Organization That Saved Western Canada
Reading Time: 3 minutes Editor, Manitoba Co-operator Over much of Saskatchewan it was common for farmers en route to town to become trapped in soil drifts across the roads in summer as by snowdrifts in winter. Men Against the Desert, James H. Gray 1967 Few us can imagine much less remember the conditions that brought the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation […] Read more
An Accident Of History Corrected
Reading Time: 3 minutes Editor, Manitoba Co-operator There are countless examples through history where conventional thinking has taken a well-intentioned, but ultimately wrong turn that sets in motion a series of unfortunate events. Agriculture on the Canadian Prairies is no exception. One of those wrong turns dates back to 1885. According to historical reports, the armed forces sent to […] Read more
Conservation Tillage Story A Template For Innovation
Reading Time: 3 minutes – Murray Fulton “You have technological things on top of economics on top of policy on top of psychological factors and this is what creates innovation.” SASKATOON When Prairie farmers think of conservation tillage, they think of things like economics, weed control and crop rotations. When academics like the University of Saskatchewan’s Murray Fulton think […] Read more
Cars and cattle — both on a hamster wheel
Reading Time: 3 minutes Editor, Manitoba Co-operator ”The worst business of all is the one that grows a lot, where you’re forced to grow just to stay in the game at all and where you’re reinvesting the capital at a very low rate of return. And sometimes people are in those businesses without knowing it.” Warren Buffett, 1998 Between […] Read more
University of Manitoba publicity stunt or just junk science?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Editor Manitoba Co-operator The press release from the the University of Manitoba’s National Centre for Livestock and the Environment (NCLE) earlier this month spoke volumes. Unfortunately, it said very little about science. It said a lot about sensationalism and just how politicized science has become. “WHEN IT COMES TO FEEDING COWS, GRASS IS NOT GREENER […] Read more
Holistic management holds appeal to younger farmers
Reading Time: 4 minutes Brandon, Manitoba There was something so remarkable about the audience in front of Manitoba’s Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives that she stopped her speech mid-text. “As I look across this room, I am quite impressed with the age level,” Rosann Wowchuk told the recent Holistic Management International conference here. “That speaks very positively […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
