Farmers in waterlogged parts of eastern Saskatchewan are nearly out of time for fields to dry in time for planting, after steady rains in the past few days, provincial government officials said Wednesday. “Every second day for the past week, it seems like it’s been raining and raining,” said Daphne Cruise, regional crops specialist with […] Read more
Rains stall Saskatchewan seeding
Wheat, barley single desks to end together: CWB
Ottawa plans to end the Canadian Wheat Board’s marketing monopoly on spring wheat, durum and barley crops simultaneously in August 2012, the board’s chairman said after meeting with Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz on Tuesday. Ritz made his first-ever visit as minister to the CWB’s Winnipeg head office for a brisk 30-minute meeting to directly inform […] Read more
Tories aim to end CWB single desk in 2012
Canada’s Conservative government will likely introduce legislation this autumn that will end the Canadian Wheat Board’s marketing monopoly on wheat and barley in 2012, the returning federal agriculture minister said Wednesday. Western Canada’s grain industry has operated since the Second World War under a monopoly that forces farmers to sell wheat and barley to the […] Read more
Viterra not commenting on GrainCorp chatter
Viterra’s chief executive declined to comment on Wednesday on his company’s possible interest in acquiring GrainCorp, a leading Australian grain handler that market watchers see as a takeover target. However, CEO Mayo Schmidt, responding to a question at the BMO Capital Markets farm investor conference in New York, noted Australia’s grain industry is in consolidation […] Read more
CWB’s former CEOs see tough road ahead
The Canadian Wheat Board faces a tough battle to survive as a voluntary pool competing against grain-handling heavyweights, two former chief executives of the monopoly seller say. The big three Canadian grain handlers — Viterra, Richardson International and Cargill — won’t easily welcome a new competitor and the board is hobbled without elevators and port […] Read more
Red River to crest in Winnipeg this week
A weekend storm that brought snow, rain and strong winds to the already flooded Red River Valley created large waves but did not inflict major damage on flood defenses in Manitoba. The Red River is expected to peak in Winnipeg on Wednesday or Thursday at levels slightly below those of 2009 and 2006, and well […] Read more
CWB to survive without monopoly, Ritz says
The Canadian Wheat Board, the last major agricultural marketing monopoly in the world, can survive the loss of its exclusive hold over the buying and selling of Western Canada’s wheat and barley and compete in an open system, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz told Reuters on Tuesday. Ritz’s Conservative Party won a majority government on Monday, […] Read more
Prairie seeding still on hold, better weather coming
Western Canada’s farmers will likely keep their tractors parked this week at a time when they’re usually seeding crops, as fields remain flooded after a stretch of cool temperatures, a Canadian Wheat Board official said. Seeding has not started and looks 10 days to three weeks behind schedule, the same outlook as a week ago, […] Read more
Flood forces CN, CP to close Man. rail lines
Flooding caused by the Red River’s steady rise has forced Canadian Pacific Railway to reroute trains on one Manitoba branch line and to close another, while Canadian National Railway has closed a secondary line. The Manitoba government was building dikes Wednesday across two of CP’s lines to protect the towns of Emerson and Morris against […] Read more
Cattle, crops at risk from N.D. floods, snow
Snowstorms on top of flooding in North Dakota have not yet resulted in many cattle deaths as feared, but lingering cold, wet weather threatens the state’s herd, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official said Tuesday. Spring temperatures are well below normal in North Dakota, a key U.S. grower of spring wheat and sugarbeets and the […] Read more
Canadian Cattlemen Presents: Depth of Field
