Manitoba co operator

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IN THIS ISSUE:

A cut in farmers’ pay

WESTERN CANADA’S COMPREHENSIVE BULL SALE SOURCE

Incomes to drop three per cent » PG 3

Check it out on page 45

SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 74, No. 8 | $1.75

February 25, 2016

PMU sector to expand

MARCH 2016

manitobacooperator.ca

New flax variety sparks debate

Industry officials caution it is a small increase BY RON FRIESEN Co-operator contributor

A

n expected increase in contracted volumes of pregnant mare urine over the next two years is a small bit of good news for Manitoba’s long-beleaguered PMU industry. Pfizer Canada says it will increase the amount of PMU collected from ranches in Manitoba and Saskatchewan during 2016 and 2017. Pfizer uses estrogen from PMU to manufacture Premarin used for hormone replacement therapy in post-menopausal women.

It is not transgenic, but some fear glyphosate-resistant flax will produce a second Day of the Triffids

See PMU on page 6 »

A new system could allow glyphosate-resistant flax to be developed by ‘gene editing’ as opposed to genetic modification, but how will customers react?   photo: csp

BY SHANNON VANRAES

Publication Mail Agreement 40069240

Co-operator staff

S

ome Manitoba flax growers are expressing concern after learning a glyphosate-resistant flax variety is only a few years away from being market ready. Eric Fridfinnson of the Manitoba Flax Growers Association said the move towards herbicide-tolerant flax

began several years ago and stemmed from a desire to increase yields, which hover around 22 bushels per acre in Manitoba. “We really feel that it would be a great benefit to flax to be able to use this technology,” said Fridfinnson. “We see a number of areas where it would be useful for breeders to be able to move their program more quickly and raise the genetic potential of flax.” In the spring of 2010, the Flax Coun-

cil of Canada signed on with U.S. crop trait development firm Cibus to work on non-transgenic flax traits, providing significant funding for the company’s work. The Manitoba Flax Growers Association also contributed to the project, providing approximately $200,000 to the San Diego-based company over about four years. But after Cibus failed to meet various See FLAX on page 6 »

Soybeans still available

HS 006RYS24 | CHU 2450 | RM 00.6 dowseeds.ca 43356_04 DAS_Seed Print_Green_BF_10_25x3_MC_a1.indd 1

2/17/16 3:36 PM


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