Reading Time: 3 minutes We’ve all heard tales of the inefficiencies that have plagued centrally planned economies in far-off places. How about this one? A shipper books a train to clear out some of its inventory so it can continue accepting deliveries from its customers. The train is supposed to come on Saturday. So the shipper makes sure it […] Read more
More Deregulation Is Not The Solution
The growing urbanization of farm policy
Reading Time: 2 minutes It has been difficult over the past decade or so to find the word “farmer” or “agriculture” in the avalanche of policy statements put out by federal parties during election campaigns. Oh sure, there’s been the hot-button issues such as the Canadian Wheat Board, listeria and more money for hard-pressed farmers, but getting the political […] Read more
Are Farmers Rational? Easy Answer
Reading Time: 3 minutes Ever heard the joke about the farmer who wished for good prices and a good crop simultaneously? Editor, Manitoba Co-operator They say “it’s just a number,” but something strange happens to your journalistic perspective as you cross over to the dark side of 50. Story leads that had you pulling out your notebook in the […] Read more
Phosphorus Recycling Key To Future
Reading Time: 3 minutes Farmers have found an ally in a new report from the International Sustainable Development Institute (IISD), which says the responsibility for better phosphorus management cannot be carried by agriculture alone. The report shifts the focus from phosphorus as a noxious nutrient that must be regulated to prevent it from damaging the environment, to phosphorus as […] Read more
Are Farmers Rational? Sure. But Maybe Farming Isn’t
Reading Time: 3 minutes “Different choices are made if the same choice is framed as a loss rather than a gain.” Editor, Manitoba Co-operator Ever wonder why those herbicide ads portray weeds as the silent killer of your yields? Or why farmers cling to the bin keys while markets are rising, only to sweep them clean and race for […] Read more
Analysts Say Grain Markets Headed Sideways For Now
Reading Time: 3 minutes Bad weather – preferably elsewhere – is Prairie farmers’ best bet for a wheat market rally this year, the Canadian Wheat Board’s director of weather and crop surveillance unit told farmers attending Manitoba Ag Days Jan. 20. “We’re going to need a weather event in one of those big six (exporting) countries to turn the […] Read more
Growing The Industry Before The Market
Reading Time: 4 minutes “When a customer asks you to buy red wagons and you say ‘I am sorry, we’re only selling green ones’ – you lose the sale.” – CHARLIE GRACEY Canada’s beef sector must move out of America’s shadow and take charge of its own future, two prominent beef industry consultants told a Manitoba Cattle Enhancement Council […] Read more
Finding A Better Way To Raise Beef
Reading Time: 4 minutes “The confinement industry’s common response to criticism right now is to say ‘we have to feed the world’ and that doesn’t work if there are viable (alternative) models out there.” – TODD CHURCHILL If Todd Churchill is right, he’s come up with a grass-fed beef production model that could pull the rug out from under […] Read more
Editors’ Picks: Self-grooming cows yield more milk
A group of dairy cows in New York, able to make their own spa dates with a self-grooming device, has been found to yield more milk and develop fewer cases of mastitis. Researchers at Cornell University’s Quality Milk Production Services department at Ithaca, N.Y. and the Sprucehaven Farm and Research Center at Union Springs, north […] Read more
Canola Targets Prompt Research Investment
Reading Time: 3 minutes JoAnne Buth, Canola Council “Our 2008 crop was a record harvest. With record prices. A record crush. And record exports.” The canola race is heating up. Mons anto Canada broke ground on a $10-million research facility at the University of Manitoba last Monday, becoming the third company to announce a major expansion in canola research […] Read more
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