(Screengrab from RobinHood.ca)

Flour recalls widen in E. coli probe

Reading Time: 2 minutes Federal public health officials and flour miller Ardent Mills are warning Canadians to follow “safe flour handling practices” as an E. coli-related flour recall widens from one specific batch of Robin Hood flour to include several other Ardent-made products. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Sunday updated its food recall warnings to include several lots […] Read more

Mixed conditions loom over Manitoba winter cereals

Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada — A mix of freezing and warming conditions put Manitoba’s winter cereals in uncertain condition, following months of promising weather, according to the head of an industry group. Manitoba’s winter wheat and fall rye crops had ample snow cover throughout the winter, which supported crops, but more recently, conditions turned slushy, then froze […] Read more



A two-row Bentley base malt. (RedShedMalting.ca)

Growing craft beer sector thirsty for local malt

Reading Time: 3 minutes CNS Canada — Craft breweries are a growing subsector of the Canadian beer industry, but the increased variety of local drink options are not necessarily 100 per cent homegrown, as a lack of domestically produced specialty malts forces brewers to look far afield to meet their needs. “We get our base malt locally, but we […] Read more


Crown rust is considered one of the worst crop diseases since its strains can mutate to acquire new virulence and resistance.

Crown rust comes after oats

Part of the management challenge comes from its sources and its choice as a cover crop

Reading Time: 5 minutes In a production agriculture world where corn and soybeans have dominated the scene for much of the last 25 years, oats are supposedly one of the forgotten crops. There have been attempts to revive the grain’s standing, including the formation of the Oat and Barley Council of Ontario back in the early 2000s, as well […] Read more

Ukraine farmers examine Canadian agriculture co-ops

Reading Time: < 1 minute A delegation of Ukrainian farmers were visiting agriculture co-ops this week, looking to see if the approach can benefit their grain businesses in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. In Ontario they visited Agris Co-op and Great Lakes Grain in Chatham, Agrico fertilizer storage outside London, an Agromart retail operation in Wellburn, and the Donkers’ dairy goat farm […] Read more


Harpinder Randhawa, spring wheat and triticale breeder with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) in Lethbridge, stands in a field of soft white spring wheat. He is working on soft white spring varieties with improved resistance to disease and pre-harvest sprouting.

Soft white spring wheat spreads east

Ethanol drives new demand while research adapts SWSW to new regions

Reading Time: 5 minutes Until relatively recently, there were few producers outside the irrigation belt of southern Alberta who had ever heard of, much less planted, soft white spring wheat (SWSW). However, backed by 50 years of research, the wheat class is suddenly showing a new potential to be grown on more acres and in more areas, and for […] Read more

(Screengrab from RobinHood.ca)

Robin Hood flour pulled in E. coli probe

Reading Time: 2 minutes Federal health officials investigating over two dozen cases of E. coli poisoning across Canada are warning consumers to get rid of a certain batch of Robin Hood flour. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on Tuesday issued a food recall warning for Robin Hood All-Purpose Flour, Original, distributed in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. […] Read more


(Doug Wilson photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Yorkton, Sask. oat plant moves on major expansion

Reading Time: < 1 minute U.S. processing firm Grain Millers Inc. is pressing ahead on the second phase of a previously announced expansion at its Yorkton, Sask. oat processing plant. The company on Friday announced the “initiation” of the second phase of the expansion, which overall is expected to cost $100 million and boost the plant’s annual output by 80,000 […] Read more

The joint GFO/SGS Canada lab opened in Guelph in July 2016. (GFO/SGS Canada video image)

Ontario cereals lab filling nationwide demand

Reading Time: 3 minutes Grain Farmers of Ontario and SGS Canada took a risk in creating the Grains Analytical Testing Laboratory, as a partnership bringing wheat testing to a province with a comparatively small wheat crop. After eight months, and a first harvest of wheat analytics, the Guelph lab’s manager says they have found there is interest in the […] Read more