THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 2015
VOL. 93 | NO. 33 | $4.25
CORN OUTLOOK |
SERVING WESTERN CANADIAN FARM FAMILIES SINCE 1923
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POOR U.S. CROP MAY HIKE PRICES
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BIOFUEL
New corn a breakthrough in biofuel
TRADE
Supply management on the table at TPP
“Sugarcorn” may rival sugarcane BY ROBERT ARNASON BRANDON BUREAU
Has Canada dealt away dairy quota rights to keep a seat at the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks? | BY SEAN PRATT SASKATOON NEWSROOM
Canadian negotiators offered concessions on the country’s supply management system during the recent round of Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks in Hawaii, says an international trade lawyer. “Having put that on the table, it means that supply management is negotiable and what we’re now talking about are the numbers,” said Lawrence Herman, principal in Toronto-based Herman & Associates. “The principle has been established.”
The federal government has been tight-lipped about what took place in Hawaii at the end of July but Herman said he has a “variety of sources of information” that confirm trade minister Ed Fast made a significant move during the 11th hour of negotiations in Maui. “It’s clear that Canadian trade minister Mr. Fast tabled an offer to increase Canada’s dairy quotas to allow a greater degree of imports of dairy products,” he said. “The fluid milk offer was deemed short of the mark by New Zealand and the U.S. in particular but they didn’t reject it, so it’s on the table.”
Herman said Fast also made concessions on the poultry side of the supply management system but he had no details on what was offered. There were no concessions on eggs because none of the TPP parties are pushing for expanded access to Canada’s egg market. Canada offered to expand the volume of dairy products that can enter the country tariff-free under tariff-rate quotas. Access will be measured in fluid milk equivalent and includes milk, butter and cheese products. SEE SUPPLY MANAGEMENT, PAGE 4
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SEE BIOFUEL, PAGE 4
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u|xhHEEJBy00001pzYv$:. AUGUST 13, 2015 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Box 2500, Stn. Main, Saskatoon, SK. S7K 2C4
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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
BY SEAN PRATT
Canada’s ethanol industry wishes it was more like Brazil, where sugarcane is easily and efficiently converted to biofuel. Agriculture Canada scientists and university biofuel experts are developing a novel use for corn that might level the playing field. Instead of using corn grain to make ethanol, the scientists are proposing a process similar to sugarcane: squeeze the sugar out of corn stalks and convert the corn “juice” directly to ethanol. After years of research and collecting suitable corn germplasm from around the globe, Lana Reid, an Agriculture Canada corn breeder in Ottawa and her colleague, Malcolm Morrison, have bred several experimental corn varieties with high sugar content in the stalk.