Cargill has announced it will be closing its grain handling facility at Swan River, Manitoba as of May 31st, 2015. The site, which includes two elevators, "would require significant and costly upgrades in order to maintain the high level of safety and efficiency standards at Cargill," said Jeff Wildeman, the regional manager for Cargill AgHorizons,... Read More
Category: Western Canada
Genetically engineering insects is no longer a vision for the future. In fact, one group of GE mosquitoes, Oxitec Ltd's OX513A, have moved from proof of principle to deployment, and have been used in open field trials in Malaysia, Grand Cayman, and now in Brazil. The mosquitoes are hoped to control their non-modified counterpart, Aedes... Read More
Bayer CropScience (Bayer) and DuPont Crop Protection (DuPont) have signed of an agreement for Bayer to purchase certain DuPont Crop Protection land management assets in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. Through the acquisition, Bayer gains access to DuPont's forestry, range and pasture products and expands its environmental science business unit to... Read More
Municipal elections took place this week in Ontario, delivering to us a whole new slate of wide-eyed municipal councillors. Many of them ran on platforms of change, hope, difference and progress, and I believe they meant it. Typically, municipal councils are populated by well-intentioned people determined to help their own community. Municipal councillors don’t want... Read More
The bulls have continued to lead grain markets higher over the past week, translating into a selling opportunity for 2015 and even 2016, according to bearish analysts. From the Cereals North America market outlook conference in Winnipeg, here’s our weekly farm news recap for October 30th, 2014. Kelvin recaps what’s happened in the markets, the... Read More
John Deere’s new W260 self-propelled windrower and 500R platform were on display at the Farm Progress Show this year. “The combination of the W260 Windrower and 500R Platform results in improved cut quality and consistent windrow formation to minimize dry-down time and deliver high-quality hay and forage,” said James Petersen, senior marketing representative, John Deere... Read More
Hearing yourself on the radio or — gulp — seeing yourself on TV can cause cold sweats for some. An estimated 75% of us fear public speaking — now add in that the public discussion may be recorded and broadcast and it's no wonder not everyone volunteers to speak to media. Of course, there are... Read More
Imagine floating weightless in an office far above earth, eating pizza straight out of a 3D printer. Well, astronauts may not be far from experiencing such unique meal preparations in space. In May 2013, NASA announced funding for a phase I, six-month $125, 000 study on 3D printing of foods in order to assess the... Read More
The Canadian Grain Commission has released a report that provides an overall perspective on cereal crop acres grown in Western Canada this year, breaking down acres by province, class and variety. Carberry, Harvest and Stettler were the most popular Canada Western Red Spring wheat varieties grown on the prairies this year (see chart below), while... Read More
The idea that GMO-free foods are more "natural" than those with genetically modified ingredients is a misconception, says a plant biologist and advocate for genetic modification from the University of Florida. Speaking at the University of Manitoba last week, Kevin Folta discussed how transgenic (or GM) technology works and misunderstandings about genetically modified organisms. He... Read More