Memorial services are being planned for Dwayne Klassen, whose coverage of Winnipeg’s grain and livestock trade has been a mainstay in Prairie farm print, radio and online news for over 30 years.
Klassen died Thursday morning of an apparent heart attack, according to Commodity News Service Canada (CNSC), the Winnipeg company for which he’d worked since 1982.
Klassen, 51, was hired by company founder Don Bousquet to write for what was then known as Resource News International, which covered the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange (now ICE Futures Canada), Manitoba’s livestock markets and Prairie crop cash markets for newspapers including the Manitoba Co-operator, and for international market wire services.
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Klassen also served as one of the voices behind the company’s twice-daily Farm Market News broadcasts, syndicated to a number of Prairie radio stations and more recently appearing also on smartphones through Farm Business Communications’ mobile apps.
“Dwayne’s influence on our CNS staff and in reporting the Canadian grain marketing scene has been immeasurable,” said Winnipeg grain market analyst Mike Jubinville, who operated CNSC from Bousquet’s death in 2010 until the company’s sale last year to Glacier Media, owner of the Co-operator and the AGCanada.com Network websites.
“Dwayne’s reporting, day after day, was full of real information on the crop markets — facts, numbers and opinions,” Jubinville said.
A memorial hasn’t yet been confirmed for Klassen, who’s survived by a daughter and two sons. — AGCanada.com Network
