Female soybean cyst nematodes feeding on soybean plant roots form bulbous, egg-filled nodules from which their young hatch the following spring. (Keith Weller photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Soybean cyst nematode confirmed in Manitoba

A damaging soybean pest that was expected to show up sooner or later in agricultural Manitoba has officially arrived. Crop surveys by University of Manitoba Ph.D. student Nazanin Ghavami with soil science professor Mario Tenuta and his students have turned up soybean cyst nematode at “extremely low” levels on soybean plant roots in one field […] Read more

Tim Hortons had a nationwide rollout for Beyond Sausage Egg + Cheese, Beyond Sausage Farmer’s Wrap and Beyond Sausage Lettuce Tomato sandwiches on its breakfast menu in June 2019. (CNW Group/Tim Hortons)

Tim Hortons retreats from Beyond

Tim Hortons is dialing back its Beyond Meat marketing in Canada and will keep the plant-based meat substitute on its sandwich menus in Ontario and British Columbia alone. The coffee-and-donut chain, an arm of Toronto-based Restaurant Brands International and Canada’s biggest fast-food chain by number of outlets, first test-marketed breakfast sandwiches with the U.S. company’s […] Read more


GenAg’s dealership at Portage la Prairie, Man. (GenAg.com)

Dutch distributor buys into Manitoba Claas dealerships

Corrected, Sept. 17 — A major Dutch farm equipment distributor is buying into the Manitoba equipment business, with a deal for Hepson Equipment and a partnership stake in GenAg. Royal Reesink announced Friday it has bought a controlling stake in Hepson and has a partnership deal in place with the Kehler family, owners of GenAg. […] Read more

Nutrien’s potash mine at Lanigan, Sask., about 100 km southeast of Saskatoon. (Nutrien.com)

Nutrien to idle three Saskatchewan potash mines

Canadian fertilizer giant Nutrien plans to shut down three of its Saskatchewan potash mines for up to two months in the fourth quarter of the year. The Saskatoon company said Wednesday it “expects to proactively take up to eight-week inventory shutdowns” at its mines at Allan, Lanigan and Vanscoy, Sask. during that period. If all […] Read more


Barry Senft, shown here at the Ottawa Valley Farm Show in a 2017 GFO video, is stepping down in April as the organization’s chief executive. (GFO video screengrab via YouTube)

Grain Farmers of Ontario seeking new CEO

Ontario’s biggest ag commodity organization is on the hunt for a new CEO as its first chief prepares to exit. Barry Senft announced Tuesday he will step down as CEO of Grain Farmers of Ontario in April 2020, a post he’s held since the 2009 merger of the province’s corn, soy and wheat grower groups […] Read more

Manitoba’s agriculture minister Ralph Eichler, shown here at an Aug. 27 pre-election forum hosted by the Manitoba Farm Writers and Broadcasters Association, easily held his riding of Lakeside in the Sept. 10 provincial election. (Manitoba Co-operator photo by Geralyn Wichers)

Ag minister returned, ag critic downed in Manitoba vote

Manitoba’s Progressive Conservatives easily kept their agriculture minister while hanging onto a marginally slimmer majority government in Tuesday’s provincial election. Ralph Eichler, the Tories’ ag minister since 2016 and the MLA for the Interlake-area constituency of Lakeside since 2003, defeated New Democrat challenger Dan Rugg of Elie on Tuesday night by a spread of 4,340 […] Read more


Clubroot galls on a canola plant. (Video screengrab from Canola Council of Canada via YouTube)

Clubroot able to beat resistant canola reaches Manitoba

A strain of clubroot able to club the roots of some resistant canola varieties has made its way east to Manitoba. Manitoba’s agriculture department reported Friday that clubroot pathotype 3A — a strain that can “overcome some first-generation sources of genetic resistance” in commercial canola — has been positively identified in the south-central rural municipality […] Read more

P.E.I. Premier Dennis King speaks Sept. 9, 2019 during an update on effects from Hurricane Dorian. (PrinceEdwardIsland.ca)

FCC to offer flexibility in hurricane-battered areas

Farm Credit Canada says it plans to help its farmer clients in Atlantic Canada work around financial pressures following Hurricane Dorian’s passage through the region over the weekend. “We won’t know the full extent of damage for some time, but we’ve already heard that some customers will likely be facing some financial hardship as a […] Read more