Lack of sunshine and higher costs led Vancouver hothouse tomato producer Village Farms to a US$3.4 million net loss in its third quarter ending Sept. 30. The company is billed as the biggest producer, marketer and distributor of greenhouse tomatoes, bell peppers and cucumbers in North America, with major greenhouses at Delta and Abbotsford, B.C. […] Read more
Village Farms cuts back to cut losses
Ag Growth buys U.S. equipment maker
Winnipeg grain handling equipment firm Ag Growth has signed a deal to buy another handling gear and storage manufacturer, Union Iron, for US$20.2 million. Union Iron, based at Decatur, Ill. (southwest of Chicago) makes equipment for commercial and larger farm operations, including bucket elevators, drag conveyors, screw conveyors, truck probes, towers and trusses, distributors, facility […] Read more
PotashCorp to expand SE Sask. potash mine
Saskatoon-based PotashCorp, already the world’s biggest potash producer by capacity, plans to boost that capacity by two million tonnes per year with a US$1.8 billion mine and mill expansion at Rocanville in southeastern Saskatchewan. The company said in a release Wednesday that this project will raise PotashCorp’s total annual potash capacity to 15.7 million tonnes […] Read more
Viterra enters grain bin business
Canada’s biggest grain handler has added corrugated grain bins to its retail offerings. Viterra, which formed earlier this year from the merger of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool and Agricore United, announced Tuesday it will launch a new line of bins under the brand name Westor. The bins are engineered by Westeel and will be sold exclusively […] Read more
Right to shoo wildlife proposed for Yukon farmers
Still legally unable to discourage wildlife from wandering onto their land, eating crops or wrecking fences, Yukon farmers may soon have the right to chase those unwanted visitors away. This proposal is one of 15 now being considered to the territory’s Wildlife Act for the coming year. The Yukon government is now calling for public […] Read more
Ag Growth expands U.S. factory floor
Winnipeg grain handling equipment maker Ag Growth will buy a plant in eastern Indiana to boost its manufacturing space in its core U.S. market and ease the pressure to try and find workers in Western Canada. The income trust announced Tuesday it had exercised a US$850,000 option to buy the 160,000-square foot plant at Union […] Read more
Children’s farm death rate not dropping: CASA
The death rate for Canadian children injured while working or playing on farms hasn’t risen over time but hasn’t dropped either, according to the latest data mined by the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA). Data collected by CASA for the latest Canadian agricultural injury surveillance program (CAISP) report shows 274 youths from ages one to […] Read more
CPR scrap ties to generate power for B.C. grid
Canadian Pacific Railway has signed a deal with a First Nations power cogeneration company to dispose of its scrap railroad ties. CPR announced an agreement Friday with Aboriginal Cogeneration Corp., which plans to have its first gasification plant operating by spring 2008 at Ashcroft, B.C., west of Kamloops. Rather than simply burning, the planned plant […] Read more
N.L. cranberry industry gets $2M public boost
Newfoundland and Labrador will get over $2 million in public investment toward development of the province’s cranberry industry. The federal and provincial governments on Friday announced $1.3 million from the federal Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) innovative communities fund, $530,400 in provincial natural resources department funding (including $48,000 from the federal/provincial Agricultural Policy Framework) and […] Read more
Ottawa puts up $530K for SE Sask. land use study
The federal government will pay over $530,000 in Ecological Goods and Services (EG&S) funding to take inventory of farmers’ land use in the southeastern corner of Saskatchewan, set landscape goals and work out the bill to reach those goals. The study by the Lower Souris Watershed Committee is one of eight EG&S pilot projects in […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
