20140807

Page 1

THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 2014

VOL. 92 | NO. 32 | $4.25

LIMOUSIN SHOW |

SERVING WESTERN CANADIAN FARM FAMILIES SINCE 1923

|

NATIONAL COMPETITION

P72

WWW.PRODUCER.COM

SPOTTED AT #CROPTOUR14 | FOR MORE PHOTOS AND STORIES, SEE P.3-7, 16 Western Producer reporters crisscrossed the Prairies last week, covering the CWB crop tours.

Clockwise from left: Leif Carlson of Manitoba Agriculture gets nice and close with a cereal crop to assess its yield and quality. He was part of the tour. | ED WHITE PHOTO Ripening wheat shows its beauty near Etzikom, Alta., during the July 29 segment of the tour. | BARB GLEN PHOTO One guest checks soybean nodulation in central Manitoba. | ED WHITE PHOTO Soil is dry in fields near Stirling, Alta. | BARB GLEN PHOTO

Want to see more? Join us at www.producer.com or follow us on social media.

Sharing new opportunities Alta. retirees start a market garden | P. 17

Rail volumes increased, service rules tightened New minimums for railways | Federal government will monitor railway performance to ensure all markets for Canadian grain are being served BY BRIAN CROSS SASKATOON NEWSROOM

Hi-tech wells How seismo-electric equipment can easily find water | P. 66

The federal government marked the beginning of the 2014-15 crop year with new regulations aimed at ensuring better rail service for Western Canada’s grain and oilseed farmers. The regulations, which were announced Aug. 1 by federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz, include another federal order requiring Canada’s major railways to each haul a minimum of 536,000 tonnes of grain per week until Nov. 29. The order is intended to ensure that Canadian National Railway

and Canadian Pacific Railway move an average of one million tonnes of grain per week throughout the 2014-15 crop year, despite the likelihood of reduced volumes during December, January and February. Other measures include regulations that require railway companies to provide more information about key performance indicators such as car order fulfillment, fleet sizes and the number of hopper cars that are empty, loaded, in storage, en route or in bad order. Railway performance will also be monitored more closely on a corridor-by-corridor basis to ensure that

all markets for Canadian grain are being adequately served. The new regulations also provide more details about the types of issues that can be brought before the Canadian Transportation Agency during CTA-arbitrated negotiations involving rail shippers and railway companies. It is hoped that defining the issues allowed in an arbitrated settlement will encourage more shippers to pursue service level agreements with the railways. In addition, monetary penalties can also be ordered. SEE NEW REGULATIONS, PAGE 2

»

u|xhHEEJBy00001pzYv$:# AUGUST 7, 2014 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Box 2500, Stn. Main, Saskatoon, SK. S7K 2C4 The Western Producer is published in Saskatoon by Western Producer Publications, which is owned by GVIC Communications Corp. Publisher: Shaun Jessome Publications Mail Agreement No. 40069240

TRANSPORTATION | SHIPPING REGULATIONS


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
20140807 by The Western Producer - Issuu