Farmers still waiting for better default protection on grain sales

Farmers still waiting for better default protection on grain sales

Leaving feed mills exempt from coverage under existing licensing 
and bonding puts farmers at risk to losses

Reading Time: 3 minutes In 2009, western Canadian farm groups submitted a report to Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz outlining options for a program to provide security to producers when grain buyers default on payments. The main options were fund-based, insurance-based or bond-based programs. It was not that there wasn’t already a form of protection in place. The Canadian Grain […] Read more

 FILE photo

Winter wheat acres should double or triple: expert

AgCanada scientist says winter wheat acres could hit the 
five-million mark, if crop insurance rules allowed later seeding

Reading Time: 3 minutes If spring comes late or is wet seven months from now, growers waiting to plant spring wheat will be looking with envy at neighbours’ fields of winter wheat. But there should be less envy and more winter wheat than the one million to 1.5 million acres currently grown on the Prairies, says Brian Beres, a […] Read more





(Peggy Greb photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Canadian produce growers lose U.S. default protection

Canadian fruit and vegetable growers shipping produce to the U.S. have just lost a key piece of insurance against U.S. buyers who skip out on their bills. The Fresh Produce Alliance (FPA), representing the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA), Canadian Horticultural Council (CHC) and Fruit and Vegetable Dispute Resolution Corporation (DRC), announced Friday that Washington […] Read more

clubroot in canola

Clubroot not just another disease

The response to clubroot has been uneven and often ineffective, 
but we need to learn from what’s worked to prevent a crisis situation

Reading Time: 3 minutes What surprised me most while researching the origins and spread of clubroot was just how devastating this disease is. Before travelling through the most affected areas and interviewing those at ground zero, I thought of clubroot as just another crop disease. It’s not. But unfortunately, many canola growers still don’t fully realize the threat they […] Read more






(Dave Bedard photo)

Conservative StatsCan production estimates downplayed

CNS Canada — Statistics Canada’s updated production estimates came in Friday at the low end of pre-report trade expectations — but the timing of the survey had most industry watchers second-guessing the numbers as soon as they came out. StatsCan pegged 2014-15 canola production at 14.079 million tonnes, up slightly from the 13.908 million tonnes […] Read more