Canadian National Railway (CN) didn’t meet its legal obligations for rail service to six Prairie grain shippers during the 2006-07 crop year, the Canadian Transportation Agency ruled Friday. But while the six shippers call that much a “milestone victory” toward fairness in rail car supply, the transport regulator said it can’t yet rule whether CN […] Read more
CN fell short on grain service: CTA
Ontario’s BIO hires new GM in overhaul
Beef Improvement Ontario (BIO) has hired a former executive director of the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association to manage the restructured organization. Mike McMorris, who most recently was a senior director for Agricorp, was previously the OCA’s executive director and before that worked for the provincial ag ministry. He takes the general manager’s job at BIO starting […] Read more
Feds fund N.B. biodiesel, bioplastics projects
Three federal programs will flow a total of $861,000 into New Brunswick for two biodiesel projects and research on making plastics from potato and grain starch. Christian Paradis, the federal secretary of state for agriculture, announced the funding for the three projects Friday in Edmundston. They include: retrofitting and buying equipment for a mill at […] Read more
DuPont sells fruit crop herbicide brand
DuPont’s Group 5 herbicide Sinbar, used in Canada to control grasses in fruit, mint and asparagus crops, has a new U.S. owner. Tessenderlo Kerley (TKI), a Phoenix company that recently began expanding from fertilizers into crop protection, has bought both the terbacil herbicide Sinbar and a diuron product, Zobar, that wasn’t available in Canada. Details […] Read more
Viterra posts “record” first-year profit
Buying Agricore United led to a healthier bottom line for the former Saskatchewan Wheat Pool in its first year as Viterra, the company announced Friday. Plus, the company now expects that its “synergies” from the merger, which became official in June, will pay off even better than it first predicted. Having changed its fiscal year-end […] Read more
GSU staff approve Viterra pension plan
Viterra employees represented by the Grain Services Union (GSU) have approved a pension plan agreement that settles a long-simmering dispute over shortfalls in pension funding. The affected employees, whose plan was carried over from Saskatchewan Wheat Pool into its merger with Agricore United as Viterra, voted 67 per cent in favour of the deal, which […] Read more
Ont. wheat board rolls out interim payments
Interim payments of between $10 and $30 per tonne are in the mail this week, the Ontario Wheat Producers’ Marketing Board announced Friday. The board also released its estimates for total earnings from its 2007 pool program, which it expects will be $10.01 to $14.61 per tonne above the total payments (initial and interims) to […] Read more
Prairies’ purple gas banned in Montana
The tax-exempt fuel used in farm vehicles across Western Canada isn’t welcome in Montana — and possibly other jurisdictions as well. Montana state officials recently contacted Alberta Agriculture and Food’s program policy division, in charge of the Alberta Farm Fuel Benefit, asking it to advise farmers only to use clear, taxed fuel when driving in […] Read more
Ritz calls CWB, critics to meet on barley
Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz has called a Jan. 29 meeting in Ottawa on “the future of the barley industry” between the Canadian Wheat Board and a clutch of “industry groups, producers, grain handlers and malting companies.” Ritz said the meeting will focus on “finding ways to move toward marketing choice for barley growers.” In […] Read more
Sask. to tap communities fund for biofuel work
Saskatchewan’s provincial government plans to stream some of $36.4 million in expected federal funding toward biofuels and sustainable energy development. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Brad Wall announced Thursday in Prince Albert that Saskatchewan has signed onto the federal government’s proposed Community Development Trust program. The program, which still requires approval from Parliament, will […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
