A government bill to end the Canadian Wheat Board’s grain monopoly cleared another stage in the House of Commons on Monday, as Ottawa races to make the most important change to the Prairie grain industry since the Second World War. The Conservative government’s bill passed second reading, surviving NDP and Liberal motions to halt it, […] Read more
CWB bill clears second reading in Commons
Sask. won’t ban canola from fields with clubroot
Saskatchewan will not force its first two farms infested with clubroot disease to stop growing canola for a number of years, as some Alberta municipalities have done, a provincial official said Wednesday. Two farmers in north-central Saskatchewan found symptoms of clubroot, which cuts crop yields, on their plants this autumn. The government in Saskatchewan, Canada’s […] Read more
Canadian crops approved for U.S. biodiesel
The U.S. federal Environmental Protection Agency approved the use of Canadian crops such as canola and corn in U.S. biofuels Thursday, in a move that lifted Canadian canola prices and may help the U.S. meet its ambitious targets for biofuels. The EPA’s designation of Canadian crops as a renewable biomass will allow U.S. biofuel makers […] Read more
Prairies to grow more wheat, barley: CWB
The Canadian Wheat Board raised its 2011-12 outlook for wheat and barley on Friday, as a warm, dry summer looks to produce bigger harvests than a year ago. Spring floods left an estimated six million acres unplanted across the Prairies, but a hot summer with timely rains has helped crops in Alberta and most of […] Read more
Wheat board asks Ottawa to pay shutdown costs
The Canadian Wheat Board has asked the federal government to pay “hundreds of millions of dollars” in penalties for cancelled grain contracts and other expenses that it says would arise if it shuts down next year when its marketing monopoly ends. If Ottawa removes the board’s monopoly to buy and sell Western Canada’s wheat, durum […] Read more
Ottawa eyes regulating access to grain handlers
The federal government is considering a request by the Canadian Wheat Board for regulated access to private grain handlers once the board loses its monopoly, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said Friday — but he added that such access may not be enforceable. Canada’s Conservative government, which holds a majority of seats in the House of […] Read more
Government may fund CWB’s move to open market
The Canadian government would consider giving the Canadian Wheat Board short-term capital to help it adjust to an open market once Ottawa removes its grain monopoly, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said Wednesday. Ritz, speaking to reporters in Winnipeg, said funding would depend on the board presenting a suitable business plan. “We’ll have a look at […] Read more
CWB to conduct farmer vote on monopoly
The Canadian Wheat Board will hold a farmers’ vote on the future of its marketing monopoly on Prairie wheat and barley, in a last-ditch bid to stop Ottawa from opening up the trade to competition. The CWB said Tuesday that the plebiscite on whether to retain the world’s last major agricultural monopoly, will take place […] Read more
Wetness to push Man. unseeded acres to record
Unseeded crop acres in Manitoba will likely reach a record high this year due to excessive wetness, a provincial government official told Reuters on Monday. The province is working to calculate an estimate, and it appears Manitoba will exceed the record of nearly 1.4 million unplanted acres set in 2005, said David Koroscil, manager of […] Read more
Wet conditions hit size of Prairie wheat crop: CWB
Canada’s Prairie crop belt will produce less wheat and more barley this year, with excessive moisture in Manitoba and Saskatchewan limiting the projected harvest, the Canadian Wheat Board said on Tuesday in its first forecast of the year for the region. Flooding will hit the world’s biggest spring wheat and durum exporter for the second […] Read more
Canadian Cattlemen Presents: Depth of Field
