THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2012
CONSUMERS EYE FISH AS HEALTHIER CHOICE
P21
SERVING WESTERN CANADIAN FARM FAMILIES SINCE 1923
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TROUBLED SKIES FOR U.S. CORN CROP
MARKETS | DROUGHT
BY ROBERT ARNASON BRANDON BUREAU
Two Manitoba canola fields have been destroyed by what is likely a resistant race of blackleg. Earlier this month, Manitoba Agriculture staff detected blackleg on the stems of canola plants on two fields. However, oilseed and plant disease specialists with the government aren’t disclosing the location of those fields or the canola variety that is infected with blackleg. Nonetheless, the damage to the fields is extensive, said Holly Derksen of Manitoba Agriculture. “To the point where plants are falling over and there’s most likely going to be a big yield loss,” she said, noting 40 percent of the canola plants in one field had fallen over because of the stem rot. At this point, Derksen thinks a unique race of blackleg is causing the damage but laboratory tests will be required to confirm her suspicion.
Cow-calf optimism | Hog producers might have difficulty adapting BY ED WHITE WINNIPEG BUREAU
Big crops and big prices could equal record profits for many prairie farmers this year. Grains, pulse and oilseeds farmers have only to keep their fingers crossed that weather, bugs and other crop-affecting factors remain reasonable. But the situation is more complicated for cow-calf and hog producers. Will high prices for feedgrains drive down calf and weanling prices this fall? Will lack of grain and aggressive U.S. cow and sow liquidation drive buyers to Canadian animals in a year? “There’s an awful lot of concern,” said Rick Bergmann of Steinbach, Man., a hog producer and vice-president of Manitoba Pork Council. “There are producers depopulating and shutting down barns.” But cow-calf producer Harold Martens of Swift Current, Sask., predicted good times ahead for producers like himself. “I’m optimistic about the price for fall, still,” he said, adding that many American Midwest farmers are selling cows and calves early because they have no pasture or feed for them. That means the North American herd will be smaller in a year, but Canadian producers will have calves to sell. “It’s definitely going to be a seller’s market,” said Martens, president of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association. T h e Mi d w e s t d ro u g ht t hat i s ravaging U.S. corn fields, reducing wheat crops and threatening soybean yields brings both good and bad for prairie livestock producers.
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DISEASE | RESISTANCE
Mysterious blackleg affecting Manitoba fields
High prices affect all sectors
SEE HIGH PRICES AFFECT ALL, PAGE 3
WWW.PRODUCER.COM
SEE MYSTERIOUS BLACKLEG, PAGE 2
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u|xhHEEJBy00001pzYv.:! JULY 26, 2012 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Box 2500, Saskatoon, SK. S7K 2C4
A little rain has finally come to parts of the United States Midwest, but it was too little and too late for this corn crop near Eaton, Ohio. It has “fired,” with little chlorophyll in the leaves. Corn cobs are small and distorted or failing to fill at all as high temperatures and drought take their toll. | MICHAEL RAINE PHOTO
The Western Producer is published in Saskatoon by Western Producer Publications, which is owned by GVIC Communications Corp. Publications Mail Agreement No. 40069240; Registration No. 10676
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