News Archives

Dec. 22, 2010 -The federal government is giving Prairie oat growers an early Christmas present, worth $1.8 million for developing new oat varieties and improving quality. The announcement comes from the Developing Innovative Agri-Products (DIAP) initiative, part of a five-year, $158-million program to support industry-led science and technology projects.      READ MORE

Dec. 22, 2010 –As fall has turned to winter, the one certainty of the harvest, at least in the eastern half of the continent, is that high commodity prices have combined with record or near-record crops in many regions. And according to many forecasts, the numbers are going to continue climbing, at least in the short-term.

Dec. 22, 2010 -What a difference a year makes. Late last year, the financial world and the media were abuzz with news of investors buying land across Africa. Now comes news that generational farmers in countries like Libya are being displaced by the new owners.  Only in Africa?          READ MORE

Dec. 14, 2010 -In the wake of a relatively good year for canola, the Alberta Canola Producers Commission is urging growers to use every tool at their disposal to deter the spread of blackleg, which could become more of a problem as rotations tighten in 2011.      READ MORE

Dec. 14, 2010 -The search for genetic diversity and hardier varieties of common crops has begun, thanks to the efforts of Global Crop Diversity Turst, in co-operation with a number of agricultural research institutes. The goal is to build a storehouse of seeds crossed between conventional varieties and their wild relatives.          READ MORE

Dec. 14, 2010 -Despite economic woes and warnings for other sectors of the economy, the agri-food sector continues to see optimism, including a 22.6 percent jump in tractor sales in November 2010, including a 31 percent increase in four-wheel-drive tractors.  READ MORE

Dec. 14, 2010 -Hardship in Russian agriculture in 2010 is driving demand, particularly for potatoes, from Canada. Prince Edward Island had a near bumper crop for 2010, while Russia suffered extensive losses. Such is the recipe for a demand that is roughly 10 times that of potato production on the Island, or three times the production levels of all of Canada.  READ MORE

Dec. 14, 2010 -Late last week, the Ontario Government announced an economic development programme to attract investment in using crops to grow the clean fuel industry and an expanding biomass production sector in Ontario's 'Near North' region east of Lake Superior.   READ MORE  

Dec. 3, 2010 -Growers in Saskatchewan may be pleased to hear of joint funding for two projects, one of which will help support a research initiative to develop new varieties of oilseed crops, including camelina and Ethiopian mustard, for industrial uses. The project, led by Genome Prairie, is worth $4.5 million over a three-year period.       READ MORE

Dec. 3, 2010 -The size of Canada's canola and wheat crops from 2010 have been noticed by analysts in the US, with a report that both were larger than expected, according to Statistics Canada figures. But with the Canadian dollar nearing parity with the US dollar, chances are the Stats Can numbers will soon be forgotten.     READ MORE