The Canadian arm of Australian mining firm BHP Billiton has bought up sole ownership of a joint-venture potash project in Saskatchewan. The company on Monday announced a $284 million, $8.15-per-share cash deal to buy Calgary-based Anglo Potash, with which BHP had co-owned 1.8 million acres of potash landholdings in a belt that surrounds Saskatoon and […] Read more
BHP buys up all of Sask. potash venture
Canola seeding stalls in dry southern Sask., Man.
Oilseed growers in parched areas of southern and central Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba are delaying seeding until they see more rain. In its crop report Monday, Saskatchewan’s agriculture ministry reported seeding provincewide as 25 per cent complete, above the 2003-07 average of 20 per cent. Also on Monday, Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives reported […] Read more
Man. hog farmers campaign against ban
The Manitoba Pork Council has rolled out a website, billboard, print and radio campaign calling for the province to reverse its decision to block southeastern hog barn development. The campaign, titled “Unfriendly Manitoba” (a play on the province’s “Friendly Manitoba” license plate slogan) attacks the Doer government on its proposed Bill 17. The province’s bill […] Read more
Crow Rate reformer Arthur Kroeger, 75
Funeral services will be held Thursday in Ottawa for Arthur Kroeger, the former federal deputy transport minister whose work on reforming the Crow Rate for Prairie grain freight is credited with setting the subsidy up for its eventual end. Kroeger died May 9 in Ottawa of cancer at age 75, according to his obituary Monday. […] Read more
Higher sales offset Lassonde’s fruit costs
A 35 per cent jump in first-quarter sales helped cover increased costs for Quebec juice processor Lassonde Industries’ raw materials. Lassonde, whose juice brands include Rougemont and Oasis, posted $5.79 million in net earnings on $118.5 million in sales for its first quarter ending March 29, compared to $2.72 million on $87.2 million in the […] Read more
Parks agency faulted for TB-positive cow
Parks Canada isn’t seriously addressing the bovine tuberculosis situation in Riding Mountain National Park’s wildlife and the government’s “selective” culling just isn’t working, Manitoba’s cattle producers say. The Manitoba Cattle Producers Association called on the federal parks department Friday to improve its bovine TB eradication efforts after a beef cow on a farm 10 km […] Read more
Sales up, profit down in Ag Growth Q1
Expansion costs bit off more than a 25 per cent jump in sales could cover in the first quarter for Winnipeg grain handling equipment maker Ag Growth. The income trust on Friday reported $1.89 million in net earnings on $35.4 million in sales for its Q1 ending March 31, compared to $5.62 million on $28.2 […] Read more
Former Viterra exec joins CWB board
The federal government has named David Carefoot, Viterra’s former chief financial officer, as one of its appointees to the Canadian Wheat Board’s (CWB) board of directors. Carefoot, of Oakbank, Man., left Viterra in February, when he was replaced by current CFO Rex McLennan. Carefoot had come to the grain company’s executive as CFO of Agricore […] Read more
Ag ad agency to boost online presence
Calgary marketing and PR agency AdFarm plans to cast a wider marketing net online to reach North American farmers where they surf. The company, which focuses strictly on clients in North America’s ag, food and rural development sectors, announced Thursday that it’s formed an “exclusive alliance” with Rare Method Interactive Corp., another Calgary agency focused […] Read more
Bovine TB found in Manitoba cow
Neither Manitoba’s “TB-free” status for bovine tuberculosis, nor its beef and cattle export status, will be affected by the finding of a TB-positive beef cow in the province’s northwest. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) offered those assurances in a release Thursday confirming the finding in a five-year-old cow within 10 km of Riding Mountain […] Read more
Canadian Cattlemen Presents: Depth of Field
