A modest proposal on grain and rail
(February 24, 2014) The three Prairie Agriculture Ministers and Federal Agriculture Minister Ritz are meeting today in Winnipeg to wring their hands over the catastrophe they created in western Canada’s grain exports. No doubt there will be much finger pointing and probably some not-so-subtle bullying of the lone NDP Ag Minister to shut up about the Wheat Board and orderly marketing. Ritz...
Read MoreThe Ostrich of Ottawa
(December 31, 2013) This month Minister Ritz continued to claim western farmers were being frivolous to expect compensation for the assets of the Canadian Wheat Board they bought and paid for. Who does he think he is fooling? Certainly not farmers. It was fifty years ago that the Canadian Wheat Board moved into its new building at 425 Main in downtown Winnipeg. At the time the CWB...
Read MoreFarmers support public plant breeding
(December 18, 2013) Anyone who supports farm-saved seed and public plant breeding should be pleased by the results of the elections for the Saskatchewan Wheat and Barley Commissions. These commissions will allocate millions of dollars of farmers’ money into wheat and barley research now that the Federal Government has trashed most of its facilities and fired the scientists who did the...
Read MoreAg Media turns cheerleader
Canada is essentially the only country in the world with surplus grain to export this year, so it is hardly surprising that prices are up a bit, at least as long as you don’t count the loss to farmers of the extra money for high protein wheat or malt barley which were a regular benefit of the single desk, but these have been largely ignored by the agricultural press.
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