Reading Time: 2 minutes A new study by Cornell University agricultural economists says family members who work on the family dairy farm make $22,000 less annually than comparable hired managers, but are handsomely compensated with “socioemotional” wealth. “While $22,000 seems like a large penalty, there are non-financial rewards they experience working for the family business,” Loren Tauer, professor at […] Read more
Farm kids: Don’t worry about wages
Barley’s genome now two-thirds sequenced
Reading Time: < 1 minute A team led by scientists at the University of California, Riverside says it has reached a new milestone in its work on sequencing the barley genome. In a release Tuesday, the researchers said they have sequenced large portions of the genome that together contain nearly two-thirds of all barley genes. Because barley is a close relative […] Read more
Cattle herd still shrinking in StatsCan estimates
Reading Time: 2 minutes The size of Canada’s cattle herd is still in decline and almost a quarter smaller than its peak in 2005, Statistics Canada reports. The federal statistics agency on Thursday released estimates showing the herd at 13 million cattle on farms on July 1 this year, down 2.1 per cent from the same date in 2014. […] Read more
Ardent to buy major Ontario soft wheat mill
Reading Time: 2 minutes The owner of Canada’s Robin Hood flour mills is poised to buy the biggest soft wheat milling operation in the country. Ardent Mills, the joint North American flour venture of agrifood giants Cargill, CHS Inc. and ConAgra, announced Thursday it will buy the former Kraft Milling operation in Mississauga, Ont. from Mondelez Canada for an […] Read more
Ex-Viterra chief to take Ontario’s Hydro One public
Reading Time: 2 minutes The chief executive who morphed Saskatchewan Wheat Pool from a debt-crushed grain handler into Viterra, then oversaw its sale to Glencore, has been tapped to take Ontario’s Crown-owned power utility public. Toronto-based Hydro One on Thursday announced Mayo Schmidt as its new president and CEO effective Sept. 3, replacing Carmine Marcello. “We believe that Mr. […] Read more
Tumour surgery to sideline CN chief
Reading Time: < 1 minute The CEO of Canada’s biggest rail network expects to be off work until late fall for surgery and radiation treatments on a precancerous tumour. Canadian National Railway’s (CN) chief executive Claude Mongeau said Wednesday he expects to have surgery either near the end of this month or early in September, to remove a rare type […] Read more
Over-the-border canola crusher gets new owner
Reading Time: 2 minutes A major canola crush plant that faced an unclear future just south of the Canada/U.S. border has a new owner in one of the States’ top agribusinesses. Ag co-operative CHS Inc. last week sealed its deal to buy Northstar Agri Industries at Hallock, Minnesota, about 40 km southeast of Manitoba’s main U.S. border crossing at Emerson. The Northstar […] Read more
N.S. halts local-level biomass, wind power plan
Reading Time: 2 minutes Nova Scotia is ending its feed-in tariff program that pays local-level groups to generate power from biomass, wind and other renewable sources. Energy Minister Michel Samson said Thursday a provincial review of the community feed-in tariff (COMFIT) program shows it’s “at a point where the program could begin to have a negative impact on power […] Read more
Avian flu controls lifted in 10 U.S. states
Reading Time: 2 minutes U.S. animal health officials have closed the books for now on avian influenza infections in 10 states, with five others remaining. In its latest report to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) last week, the U.S. federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) said all control areas for avian flu have been released […] Read more
Alta. cuts ranchers’ water pump rental fees
Reading Time: 2 minutes Ranchers and farmers renting the Alberta ag ministry’s pumps and pipes to move water for livestock watering and domestic use in dry areas may now get the equipment for half the going rate. The province announced Thursday it will cut the rental fees charged under its annual Water Pumping Program, through which producers, or groups […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
