(Dave Bedard photo)

Two unions set to strike Saturday at CP

Unions representing engineers, conductors and signal maintainers on Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) have served formal notice to strike starting Saturday. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents about 3,000 CP engineers and conductors, served strike notice late Tuesday, as did System Council No. 11 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), representing over […] Read more



(Bayer.com)

Singapore firm hikes Bayer stake in share sale

Frankfurt | Reuters — German drugmaker Bayer is raising three billion euros (C$4.67 billion) toward its planned US$62.5 billion takeover of seed and chemical firm Monsanto by selling a 3.6 per cent stake to Singapore’s state investment company Temasek. Bayer said it had struck a deal with Temasek under which it would issue shares with […] Read more



Technologist Shelley Lagasse talks incorporating pulse flour into food products such as pasta during a tour of Cigi’s pulse mill. What makes pulses desirable to a buyer depends on the end use and the market, Lagasse said. North American buyers will need to get a neutral flavour. “In other markets it might not be as much of an issue. For example, in India people consume pulses regularly. They’re used to the different flavours.”

Adding pulses to pasta

Cigi food researchers are finding ways to make your produce more appealing

Anyone who enjoyed Play-Doh as a child will appreciate watching Paul Ebbinghaus make pasta at the Canadian International Grains Institute’s (Cigi’s) pasta plant, on the main floor of their downtown Winnipeg office. But the international grain markets are not child’s play. The pasta plant is one part of Cigi’s strategy to keep Canadian durum competitive. […] Read more

The photo shows this old scribe in his young kid days giving advice to a farmer by phone — a very efficient way to do business back in the day when phones were answered. But, I was only able to help because the #12 Soils Map was right beside my phone. My first question was always, “Where are you from?” Then I could take a quick peek at the map and give a much better answer. Many thought I had the soils map in my head — 
but now the truth comes out.

Precision ag Step 1: soil maps

The most important part of precision agriculture is the soil maps of your fields


My first work on precision agriculture was actually in the 1960s and colleagues had been doing work on the idea before that. Back then it was all about identifying specific soil profile types in a field and trying to determine if their variable properties could be managed differently. Some things were clear: 1. Leached (white […] Read more





Choosing that pre-seed herbicide

Choosing that pre-seed herbicide

Q & A with CPS

Q: What are some considerations when selecting a pre-seed herbicide application? A: There are significant benefits to applying herbicides prior to seeding or crop emergence. Pre-seed weed removal reduces competition for valuable moisture and nutrients required for seedling development. When selecting pre-seed herbicides, begin with the crop to be grown. Products available vary considerably by […] Read more

Yvonne Supeene and Yulia Borsuk, baking technical specialist, show how the loaf shaping process can affect crumb structure in bread.

A tale of two (wheat) markets

As markets change, exporters need to know how end buyers are using our products

Historically, Japan has been the biggest market for Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat, outside of Canada’s domestic market. But that changed in 2017, when Indonesia edged ahead of Japan. With a population estimated to be over 260 million, the growth potential for the Indonesian market is huge. Still, Japan has been a loyal customer of Canadian wheat as well, said Yvonne Supeene, […] Read more