Scoular sidewalk chalk art at the Engredea Expo in Anaheim, Calif. in 2017. (Scoular video screengrab via YouTube)

Scoular to sell edible bean business

MarketsFarm — The Scoular Company has made a deal to sell its edible beans business in Manitoba and the northern U.S. to a Michigan edible bean processing and exporting co-op. Cooperative Elevator Co., which is owned by over 1,100 U.S. farmers and operates mainly in Michigan’s “thumb” northeast of Flint, announced Friday it will buy […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Manitoba reviewing underused forage insurance plans

About 18 per cent of forage acres insured

The Manitoba government is taking a look at its Crown crop insurance agency’s relatively under-subscribed offerings to forage growers. The provincial ag department said Tuesday it has launched a review “to better understand the purchasing decisions of Manitoba producers when it comes to forage insurance products” available via Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. (MASC). Over 1,200 […] Read more






Forecaster Drew Lerner speaks at Ag Days 2020 in Brandon. (Manitoba Co-operator photo by Alexis Stockford)

Variable Prairie weather makes for uncertain spring ahead

If nothing else, a rainy harvest season helped replenish topsoil moisture

MarketsFarm — Late-season rains wreaked havoc on the 2019 harvest season but were helpful in restoring topsoil moisture to key growing regions in the Prairies. Since snow coverage has been variable across the Prairies so far in 2020, however, the growing season may get off to a rocky start. “If we take a look at […] Read more


A grasshopper in a canola field near Starbuck, Man. in the summer of 2019. (MarketsFarm photo by Glen Hallick)

Spring weather to determine Prairies’ crop pest load

MarketsFarm — How problematic insects fare across the Prairies in 2020 depends largely on the weather this spring, according to three provincial insect specialists. Be the insects grasshoppers, flea beetles, cutworms, or a few other types, their potential to cause significant damage to Prairie crops will partly depend on how dry and warm this coming […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Hay disaster benefit kicks in for Manitoba growers

Eligible Manitoba forage growers can expect to share in a $5 million hay disaster benefit (HDB) for the 2019 crop year. Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. (MASC), the provincial crop insurance agency, announced Friday that the HDB has been activated and benefit payments to eligible forage producers on about 1,500 claims will begin “shortly.” The HDB, […] Read more


A GSI grain drying system at Bashaw, Alta. (Grainews photo courtesy Western General)

Prairie provinces react to Bibeau’s questions on carbon price impact

Ottawa — The Saskatchewan and Manitoba governments continue attempts to convince the federal government’s carbon pricing program puts farmers at a disadvantage. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau recently suggested the carbon pricing system may not be disadvantaging farmers, questioning the impact of carbon pricing on agriculture, but saying she will continue to seek out more […] Read more

Standing corn west of Giroux, Man. on Oct. 21, 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

StatsCan shows corn, soy output down across board

Despite increases in Ontario’s harvested acres for both soybeans and corn, the province’s production of both crops in 2019 followed the rest of Canada’s lower in Statistics Canada’s latest estimates. StatsCan’s November estimates for production of principal field crops, released Friday, dropped Canada’s production of soybeans to six million tonnes, down 18.5 per cent from […] Read more