Tests on two unrelated canola fields in Manitoba in August and September have confirmed clubroot on both samples, Manitoba’s agriculture department said Thursday. “Due to these results, the department says Manitoba can no longer be considered free of clubroot disease,” the department said in a special bulletin. The discovery of clubroot symptoms in Manitoba had […] Read more
Manitoba no longer clubroot-free
U.S. lays charges in $100M biofuels fraud
Six people and three companies, including an Indiana operation claiming to make biofuel from chicken fat and vegetable oils, were charged with defrauding investors and consumers out of more than US$100 million, prosecutors in Indianapolis said Wednesday. The indictment alleged four men operating E-Biofuels of Middletown, Indiana and two others with New Jersey-based Caravan Trading […] Read more
U.S. Coast Guard probes grain barge gone adrift
The U.S. Coast Guard is still investigating what caused a grain barge to drift away from its moorings and into the shipping channel on a river in the Pacific Northwest late last week, a Coast Guard spokesman said Tuesday. The 12.8-metre wide, 74.7-metre long barge was later safely retrieved and there was no reported impact […] Read more
AgDealer lanches mobile app
Farm equipment shopper website AGDealer.com has launched a new version of itself for smartphone users, providing equipment listings through a fully-featured mobile app. Through its app, AGDealer allows farmers to search its listings, save specific listings of interest, and get quick links to contact sellers. The app, which today provides over 30,000 ag equipment listings, […] Read more
Outdoor Farm Show goes mobile
Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show has added a mobile experience for its 20th-anniversary event. The show, which this year runs from Tuesday to Thursday (Sept. 10-12) and is billed as the largest agricultural trade show in the country, now offers a mobile site for smartphone users — as well as fully-featured mobile apps for iPhone, Blackberry […] Read more
StatsCan may use satellites, not farmers, to measure crop size
Statistics Canada may scrap one of its annual farmer surveys on crop yields in favour of a report that uses satellite data to estimate production. StatsCan, the national statistical agency, said the satellite data was producing increasingly similar results to its September farmer survey on yields of wheat, canola and other crops, and the change […] Read more
BIXS reboot expected to ease access to carcass data
Ranchers who don’t double as computer geeks may be pleased to hear that the Beef InfoXchange System (BIXS) is due for an update aimed at smoothing out its rough edges. Larry Thomas, the national co-ordinator for the program supported by the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA), said that after almost two years in operation, the online […] Read more
Maple Leaf to sell renderer Rothsay
The largest rendering company in the U.S. has signed a cash deal to buy Rothsay, the rendering arm of food processing giant Maple Leaf Foods and Canada’s top animal byproduct recycler. Texas-based Darling International will pay $645 million for Rothsay, including its six rendering plants in Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia and its biodiesel […] Read more
Olymel hog plant back operating after ammonia leak
An Olymel hog slaughter and processing plant in Quebec’s Beauce region is back up and running, after about a week offline due to an ammonia leak in a refrigerated area. The Quebec pork and poultry company’s plant at Vallee-Jonction, which can slaughter up to 37,500 hogs per week, mostly for export, suspended operations Aug. 12 […] Read more
Deere profit jumps; concerns over farm-belt spending
Deere and Co. reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday on strong sales of its tractors and harvesters in the Americas. But concerns that farm-belt spending and commodity prices were poised to weaken sent shares lower. Earlier this year, Deere, the world’s largest maker of agricultural equipment, lowered its outlook for fiscal 2013 revenue, saying a […] Read more
