Manitoba’s canola growers have been served notice that a particularly noxious soil-borne disease may have arrived in their province. The provincial agriculture department, in a release Thursday, reported that soil samples taken from two unrelated fields in 2011 are now confirmed to contain traces of DNA from the clubroot pathogen at "extremely low levels." These […] Read more
Clubroot DNA turns up in Manitoba soils
Teamsters at CP approve possible strike
Unionized engineers, conductors, traffic controllers, trainmen and yardmen at Canadian Pacific Railway have voted in favour of a potential strike. The workers, represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), have voted 95 per cent in favour of authorizing their bargaining committee to launch a strike "if necessary," the union said in a release Thursday […] Read more
CN’s Q1 grain handle drops
Improved revenue and profits in Canadian National Railway’s first three months of 2012 came from nearly all its business segments except grain and fertilizers. Montreal-based CN on Monday reported net income of $775 million on $2.346 billion in revenues for its first fiscal quarter ending March 31, up from $668 million on $2.084 billion in […] Read more
FREE to good home: FARM PROGRESS tickets
Editor’s Note: Well, that was quick. This contest is now closed. Ticket winners will be notified in the next few days by email, with tickets to follow by mail. Thanks to everyone who entered, and we hope to see you at the show. Haven’t got your tickets yet for Canada’s Farm Progress Show? We might. […] Read more
CP books jump in Q1 profits under pressure
Canadian Pacific Railway, under continued pressure from an activist shareholder to boost its performance, has obliged by quadrupling its first-quarter profit. Ahead of a shareholder vote of confidence at its annual meeting next month, Calgary-based CP on Friday booked net income of $142 million on $1.376 billion in revenues for its first quarter ending March […] Read more
Man. plans farm fuel tax, manure system tax credit
CORRECTED, April 18, 2012 — A new three-cent-per-litre tax on marked gasoline, and a new tax credit for manure management systems, are in the first budget by Manitoba’s former agriculture minister. Line items in provincial Finance Minister Stan Struthers’ budget, delivered Tuesday, included ongoing support for Manitoba Hydro projects, such as Bipole III, and an […] Read more
Grain traffic backed to take Hudson Bay route
The move to deregulate nearly the only user of the Hudson Bay port of Churchill, Man. will come with per-tonne incentives for shippers who continue to ship grain on that route. Speaking Friday in Tisdale, Sask. to the annual meeting of the Hudson Bay Route Association, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz formally launched a five-year, $25 […] Read more
Corn ethanol production seen hitting plateau
Corn-based ethanol’s dream days are over, says the chief economist of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Starting this year, the industry will plateau at an annual output of 15 billion gallons (56.8 billion litres), marking the end of a seven-year growth spurt that saw its corn purchases grow by an average 500 million bushels a […] Read more
Paterson to distribute seed for biofuel crop
Grain handler Paterson Grain has been tapped to handle contracting and distribution for Canada’s first commercial variety of an oilseed aimed at the biofuel processing market. Saskatoon-based Agrisoma Biosciences on Tuesday named Winnipeg’s Paterson as its long-term partner for identity-preserved distribution of Resonance, a carinata variety developed for the Prairies’ brown soil zone. Resonance, the […] Read more
E-application system for crop cash advances goes offline
The new administrator for federal cash advances on Prairie wheat, durum and barley has asked growers to phone in their applications as its website is in mid-overhaul. The Canadian Canola Growers Association — which already handled administration for the federal agriculture department’s Advance Payments Program (APP) on canola and 16 other field crops in some […] Read more
