A reorganized national pullet producers’ group has named its leadership as it plans to seek separate status in Canada’s supply management system. Pullet Growers of Canada, formerly the National Pullet Growers Association, on Friday announced it has elected Ontario producer Andy DeWeerd as its chair, with Manitoba producer Cal Dirks as western director, Emmanuel Destrijker […] Read more
Pullet growers name chiefs for breakaway from eggs
Olymel to shut pared-back Que. chicken plant
Quebec meat packer Olymel has served layoff notices to all the remaining staff at a poultry plant where operations were already cut in half last summer. The company said Friday it will "continue the restructuring of operations begun last year" at the further processing and pre-packaging plant in the Iberville district of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, southeast of[...]
Soggy fields put northern U.S. farmers on tight deadline
Incessant rains have turned Indiana farmer Larry Winger’s grain fields into ponds, making it impossible for him to seed his corn crop. “Historically, we would like the work to be done by the first of May, and research shows the optimal planting time is the last week of April,” said Winger, who plants half of […] Read more
NEW SERIES: Following a farm family in sub-Saharan Africa
One of the keys to achieving food security in Africa is ensuring that its millions of smallholder farmers are able to produce enough food for their families plus a surplus to sell in local markets. To get a better idea of the challenge facing a typical African farm family, we’ve identified one through Farm Radio […] Read more
Prairie seeding on hold until mid-, late May
Producers in Western Canada continue to wait for favourable weather conditions to dry out fields enough to begin seeding operations, and while a few producers may be able to start some minor field preparations in the next week, the bulk of seeding is unlikely to begin until the middle or end of May. “Producers are […] Read more
New-crop wheat up, old-crop down in CWB PROs
Wheat markets’ shift to weather-related issues have spurred futures to rise and carried wheat values with them in the Canadian Wheat Board’s latest new-crop pool return outlook (PRO). Meanwhile, with supply and demand dynamics for the 2010-11 marketing year remain largely unchanged, wheat and durum values have slipped in the 2010-11 PROs, also released Thursday. […] Read more
Second soy nematode resistance option on deck for 2012
A soybean variety offering resistance to a "different race spectrum" of soybean cyst nematode (SCN) has picked up Canadian registration for a 2012 launch. Syngenta Seeds Canada on Monday announced the approval for S14-M4, an NK Brand Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield variety which the company said will be the first in Canada to include[...]
Que. cheesemaker expanding to handle Kraft snacks
A Saguenay-area cheesemaker has picked up public funding toward a new $4.1 million production line to make Amooza Twist cheese snacks for Kraft Canada. Fromagerie Boivin, a family-owned firm at La Baie, about 20 km southeast of Chicoutimi, will get a $540,000 repayable contribution from Quebec’s provincial economic development ministry and another $25,000 from the […] Read more
Cereal fungicide/pesticide combo approved on oats
Revised, April 26 -- A combination of two seed treatments against wheat and barley diseases and an insecticide to suppress wireworm in those crops can now also be used to protect oats, starting this spring. Syngenta Crop Protection Canada last week announced the expanded label for its seed treatment Cruiser Maxx Cereals, which combines its[...]
Supply-managed sectors, CWB rip WTO report
A report last week from the chair of the World Trade Organization’s agriculture negotiations committee yields nothing positive for Canada’s supply-managed farm sectors, nor the Canadian Wheat Board, those groups’ farmer spokesmen say. The committee chairman, New Zealand’s WTO ambassador David Walker, on Thursday reported on consultations he’d undertaken on 10 categories of issues with […] Read more
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