With more advanced equipment and technology, experts like Dr. Sarah Hambleton from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) continue to refine our understanding of different plants and fungi. A recent case in point occurred when Hambleton, whose specialty is identifying fungi, and in particular rust, was sent a sample of contaminated switchgrass from Ontario to identify […] Read more
To tackle a plant pathogen, get the ID right first
Forages: News Roundup from the May 2018 issue of Canadian Cattlemen

Canada clears Bayer’s Monsanto play, with conditions
Canada’s Competition Bureau says it’s “actively reviewing” BASF’s suitability as a buyer of the crop seed and chemical assets Bayer has to sell to get the bureau’s blessing to buy Monsanto. The Competition Bureau said Wednesday it has an agreement with Bayer to deal with “concerns that the proposed transaction would have significantly harmed competition […] Read more

Input Capital to appeal streaming contract ruling
A “virtual” grain firm whose canola contracts with a Prairie farmer were set aside as “unconscionable” in a recent court ruling plans to challenge parts of that decision on appeal. Regina-based Input Capital Corp. said Monday it has filed a notice of appeal with the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal over a May 17 ruling by […] Read more

Strikes called off as unions, CP reach tentative deals
Labour peace arrives Thursday morning at Canadian Pacific Railway, as the company and the unions for its conductors, engineers and signal maintainers have reached tentative deals. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Council No. 11, which represents about 360 CP signal maintenance staff, announced a tentative three-year deal with Calgary-based CP Tuesday evening. The […] Read more

Deal in principle announced for Churchill railway, port
The federal government has announced an “agreement in principle” which will see a new partnership fix up northern Manitoba’s washed-out Hudson Bay Railway and take over the mothballed Port of Churchill. Details of the agreement were slim at best in the government’s announcement Wednesday, except to say the buying group slated to take over the […] Read more

CP employees to walk the line Tuesday night
Barring any last-minute deals, conductors, engineers and signal maintainers at Canadian Pacific Railway plan to be on strike as of 9 p.m. CT Tuesday. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents about 3,000 CP engineers, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), which represents about 360 CP signal maintenance staff, both announced Saturday […] Read more

CP employees reject company’s ‘final’ offers
Conductors, engineers and signal maintainers at Canadian Pacific Railway are again within striking distance of striking. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents about 3,000 CP engineers, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), which represents about 360 CP signal maintenance staff, confirmed Friday their members have voted to reject what CP described […] Read more

Deere recalls loader attachments over manual omission
Over 1,300 Deere front-end loader attachments sold in Canada are being recalled over what’s missing from their operator manuals. Deere and Co. and Health Canada on Thursday announced a recall for certain 120R John Deere loaders sold from May through September last year. “The ballasting information for the loader when attached to a John Deere […] Read more
History: Alberta’s Grazing Policy
Reprinted from the March 1951 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
By Kenneth Coppock Members of the Western Stock Growers’ Association in Convention recently in Lethbridge listened with great attention to Alberta’s Minister of Lands and Forests review the Province’s grazing policy over a six year period or since its inauguration January 1st, 1945. The Minister, who incidentally stands in high favor with the stockmen, not […] Read more

Federal rail freight legislation clears Senate
Canada’s Senate has passed federal legislation that grain grower groups have hoped will help improve rail freight service for the sector this year. Bill C-49, the Transportation Modernization Act, passed third reading in the Senate on Tuesday following a 41-31 vote to approve a message that the Senate “does not insist on its amendments” to […] Read more