Reading Time: < 1 minute Farm Business Communications’ ventures in cyberspace have earned national honours for the Winnipeg farm publishing house at the Canadian Online Publishing Awards. The awards, presented Thursday in Toronto in an event organized by Canadian media magazine Masthead, go to websites in three divisions: Blue (scholarly, farm, business-to-business), Red (consumer) and Green (news media). Four of […] Read more
Farm websites earn national honours
Man. farmers to get compensation for swamped land
Reading Time: < 1 minute Farmers around southern Manitoba’s Portage Diversion whose fields were submerged by the province’s flood-control efforts this summer can expect some compensation. The province on Wednesday pledged up to $1.15 million to compensate growers following last summer’s use of the Portage Diversion to help regulate water flow and protect rural and urban residents along the Assiniboine […] Read more
Ontario eyes expanding production insurance
Reading Time: < 1 minute Ontario’s government plans to give itself more latitude to expand its farm production insurance offerings. The province said Wednesday it’s proposing to amend its Crop Insurance Act and grant itself authority to expand production insurance beyond just crops. That authority already is available to every other provincial government in Canada, the province noted. “Giving more […] Read more
COOL as is can’t be patched to satisfy WTO, Vilsack says
Reading Time: 2 minutes U.S. federal officials don’t see a way their mandatory country-of-origin labelling (COOL) legislation can do what it was designed to do and satisfy global trade rules at the same time. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, speaking Monday on a U.S. Department of Agriculture podcast, said officials “do not think that there is a regulatory fix” for […] Read more
Richardson’s Sask. oat milling staff ratify deal
Reading Time: 2 minutes Unionized workers with Richardson International’s oat processing and grain milling plant at Martensville, Sask. are headed back to work after ratifying a new labour deal. About three dozen Richardson Milling employees, represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1400, were locked out Sept. 10 after voting in late August to approve a […] Read more
BASF moves Clearfield system to open-ended agreements
Reading Time: 2 minutes Farmers wanting to grow Clearfield canola, wheat, sunflowers or lentils will now only need to sign one agreement to use the herbicide-tolerant crop system, rather than sign up every year or every few years. BASF, developer of the Clearfield Production System, on Monday announced a new “evergreen,” or open-ended, version of its Clearfield Commitment, available […] Read more
Federal Liberals’ former ag critic won’t run again
Reading Time: < 1 minute The southern Ontario MP who served as the federal Liberals’ ag critic under interim leader Bob Rae plans not to seek re-election in 2015. Frank Valeriote, the MP for Guelph since 2008, announced Friday he will remain until the next federal election, set for Oct. 19 next year. Valeriote didn’t say specifically in his statement […] Read more
PED pops back up in southwestern Ontario
Reading Time: 2 minutes A farrow-to-finish hog operation in southwestern Ontario is home to the province’s 64th on-farm case of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED), its first such case in almost four months. The farm, in Middlesex County, reported “clinical signs” of the PED virus (PEDv) and submitted samples for testing Monday. Laboratory confirmation was received Tuesday, Ontario Pork said […] Read more
Cargill to sell, shut Manitoba feed mills
Reading Time: 2 minutes Cargill’s Canadian arm has announced plans to get out of the livestock feed milling business in Manitoba. The U.S. agrifood firm’s Winnipeg-based Canadian office announced Thursday it will close its feed mill at Brandon, Man. It will also sell its feed mill in Winnipeg’s St. Boniface district to U.S. feed company Standard Nutrition for an […] Read more
Ag Growth to buy bin maker Westeel for $221.5M
Reading Time: 3 minutes Grain bin manufacturer Westeel is on deck to become part of Prairie grain handling equipment company Ag Growth International’s bin of manufacturers. Winnipeg-based AGI announced Tuesday it’s signed an acquisition deal with Westeel’s owner Vicwest Inc. and Irish building materials manufacturer Kingspan Group. Kingspan said Tuesday it will buy Winnipeg-based Vicwest for $12.70 cash per share, […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
