Manitoba co operator

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Soybeans ARE safe

New school

A frost won’t affect yield » PG 18

Young graziers shake things up » PG 13

SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 74, No. 37 | $1.75

September 15, 2016

Canadian farm balance sheets strong

manitobacooperator.ca

Tragedy brings out the best in farm community

FCC says the industry is doing well, but there are potential headwinds looming

Within hours of learning their 76-year-old neighbour had been killed in a car accident, farm neighbours began organizing to help harvest the family’s crops

BY ALLAN DAWSON Co-operator staff

C

anadian agriculture is on a sound financial footing, with record farm income and land values peaking, while the increase in farm debt — also a record — is slowing. Those are the major conclusions of the Farm Credit Canada (FCC) Outlook for Farm Assets and Debt 2016-17 report, published Sept. 7. “The balance sheet of agriSee STRONG FARMS on page 7 »

Rolf Penner’s neighbours have put in long hours on the family’s farm this fall helping take the harvest off after Penner’s father was killed in a highway accident.   PHOTO: ROLF PENNER

BY LORRAINE STEVENSON Co-operator staff

A

Publication Mail Agreement 40069240

t his father’s funeral this summer, Rolf Penner spoke of how working alongside him on the farm was a bit like being ‘like an old married couple.’ “We would bicker and fight and argue over things, but when it came down to it we were always there for

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each other,” he said. And they’d always get the work done. That relationship ended tragically and suddenly July 31. That morning Udo Penner, 76, and his wife Charlotte were driving to church when their car was struck at the junction of Hwys. 23 and 200. The other driver slammed into the driver’s side of the Penners’ vehicle. Udo was killed instantly. Charlotte suffered multiple cracked ribs and an

injury to her neck, but survived the crash. Rolf was notified immediately and he rushed to the scene. So did numerous farm neighbours, as word quickly spread. And in the excruciating hours that followed, Penner had to come to terms not only with this sudden loss of his dad, but the secondary blow all farm See FARM COMMUNITY on page 6 »

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