Strong demand across its tractor and farm tool product lines has led Winnipeg ag equipment maker Buhler Industries to record profit for fiscal 2013. Buhler, the manufacturer of Versatile tractors and Farm King farm tools, on Tuesday reported net profit of $19.9 million on $343.9 million in revenue for the year ending Sept. 30, up […] Read more
Buhler books record 2013 profit on near-record sales
Ontario’s Agricorp streamlines web delivery
Ontario’s farm program delivery agency will begin inviting farmers by email next month to register for its newly-consolidated online services. Agricorp announced Tuesday that farmers may now sign in at the agency’s main website to view program documents, download all program forms and update contact information, “all in one place” — and thus will only […] Read more
CP over, CN under revenue cap from Prairie grain
Canadian Pacific Railway will have to roll back its 2012-13 revenue from Prairie grain, worth over half a billion dollars, by about 0.03 per cent to get under its federally mandated limit. The Canadian Transportation Agency on Monday announced Calgary-based CP has come in just $177,961 over its “maximum revenue entitlement” of $544,044,916 for Prairie […] Read more
Michelin, Tereos aim to use crops to make rubber for tires
Michelin and Tereos have said they will join forces to develop a rubber derived from sugar beet, grain and waste that could replace some of the natural and oil-based synthetic rubber used in tires. They aim to build an industrial unit by 2020, said a spokesman for Tereos, the world’s fourth-largest sugar company. Michelin, one […] Read more
Morriss: Cell companies bad, railways good?
Just as there’s good stress and bad stress, there’s good excitement and bad excitement. There’s the good excitement you get when watching the Grey Cup, especially if you’re a Riders fan. Then there’s the other kind of excitement (as in riled up) you got watching this year’s Grey Cup commercials about how the Harper Government […] Read more
SW Ont. Case IH dealer joins local chain
A southwestern Ontario chain of Case IH and New Holland ag equipment dealerships has expanded its reach with a Case IH dealership in a town where it already sells the New Holland line. Delta Power Equipment, which operates Case IH dealerships at Exeter, Forest and Seaforth, Ont., and New Holland shops at Essex and Watford, […] Read more
Governments seek to raise EU cap on food-based biofuels
European Union governments are trying to raise a planned limit on the use of transport fuels made from food crops, despite warnings that the fuels can harm the environment and push up food prices. Last year in response to such warnings, the European Commission, the EU executive, proposed capping the bloc’s use of crop-based biofuels […] Read more
U of A researchers build a better battery out of eggshells
Quick-charging batteries made from eggshell membranes could also solve a growing problem in Canada’s egg industry
Reading Time: 2 minutes Your morning omelette may hold the solution to your quick-dying smartphone battery. University of Alberta researchers David Mitlin and post-doctoral fellow Zhi Li have developed a fast-charging supercapacitor using eggshell membranes — a plentiful egg industry byproduct. “We sell the liquid egg whites and the yoke to food processors, and we have no use for […] Read moreBorder collies headed for the unemployment line?
Reading Time: < 1 minute Researchers at the University of Sydney in Australia have developed a robotic herder which they say does a better job than humans or dogs. A four-wheeled device nicknamed Robotic Rover has successfully herded dairy cows in tests on the university’s dairy herd. “Removing human judgment from trafficking speed will allow us to ensure that cows […] Read more
Breeding a bigger and better dandelion
Reading Time: < 1 minute Hold on before you fill the sprayer tank next spring — German scientists say they have found a new source of rubber to make tires — dandelions. The German research organization Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and tire manufacturer Continental say they’ve officially started a five-year joint project to commercialize the manufacture of tires from dandelion rubber. The first […] Read more
