Agriculture

Opinion

GRAHAM HUGHES / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES The lack of cohesive programs, funding and mandate leaves gaps that hamper small Canadian food processors’ ability to scale up.

Processing potential long way from reality

Laura Rance-Unger 5 minute read Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026

There are times in life when you want to be wrong — like when you walk into the doctor’s office believing your ailment will be the death of you.

It’s the same sort of feeling I get wading through the pile of newly released reports extolling the unrealized “potential” for more value-added processing in Canadian agriculture. There’s this little voice inside my head saying: “I’m from Manitoba. Show me.”

There are jaw-dropping numbers bandied about in various reports from Food and Beverage Canada, the Canadian Chambers of Commerce/PwC and the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute. For example, more processing could add $75 billion on top of the $188 billion the sector already generates, create hundreds of thousands more jobs and a bigger domestic market for farmers. The list goes on.

Not to discount the solid analysis behind these efforts. Overall, it all sounds great, although notably missing is any mention of the growing concerns over ultra-processed foods and how that might affect future market growth.

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Opinion

David Zalubowski / The Associated Press The U.S. per-gallon price for diesel fuel at a Buc-ee’s station on Oct. 12 in Johnstown, Colo. — roughly CDN$2.20 per litre.

Diesel bill adds to cost-price squeeze on farm

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Preview

Diesel bill adds to cost-price squeeze on farm

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026

Blessed with a week of good weather, most Manitoba farmers are now in the home stretch of harvest and beginning to assess whether their crop will earn enough to cover the cost of growing it.

Commodity market prices have surged well above the numbers used to prepare production budgets earlier this year, with the price of top-quality milling wheat up 27 per cent over a year ago. Canola and soybeans are up 36 per cent and oats by 14 per cent.

That’s a significant boost for the crops harvested in good shape before rainy weather shut down operations for a couple of weeks during the critical harvesting window. However, upwards of half of the province’s crop overall was affected by the bad weather, resulting in yet-to-be calculated yield and quality losses.

Then there’s the cost side of the balance sheet.

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Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026

Opinion

DARRYL DYCK /THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Chickens at a poultry farm in Abbotsford, B.C. Canadian per capita consumption of chicken has increased to one kilogram per person.

Protein crests current appetite wave

Laura Rance-Unger 5 minute read Preview

Protein crests current appetite wave

Laura Rance-Unger 5 minute read Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026

Holiday feasts often reflect the latest fads and trends influencing how we eat.

This Thanksgiving’s table is likely to feature more Canadian content than it might otherwise as a point of national pride.

In the recent past, the carb-free craze has made cauliflower a substitute for the mashed potatoes on some family spreads. Some have gone meatless, while others have added more. Still others offer gluten-free, dairy-free or fat-free alternatives.

Nowadays, it seems consumers can’t get enough protein. Desmond Sobool, deputy chief economist Farm Credit Canada, told a recent economic update for the agri-food sector there are two converging influences in play.

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Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026

Opinion

Kim Langen / Killarney Guide files Farmers harvest a crop of wheat near Holmfield on Sept. 2. The next morning, a storm brought substantial rain to the region.

Wet weather heats up feed grain availability

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Preview

Wet weather heats up feed grain availability

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026

Other than those in another rain cloud, it’s hard to find the silver linings attached to this year’s soggy harvest.

A showery September continued to cause delays and more deterioration in both quality and yield. Plus, the costs of mitigating post-harvest losses to spoilage are rising as the delays push further into fall. It takes more heat and time to artificially dry down grain as temperatures cool.

Crops harvested in August before the weather turned warm and damp came off with good quality and average yields. But farmers in some areas, such as southwest Manitoba, had only started when the rains came. Now they are plagued with standing water and sprouting swaths of grain that might not even make feed quality.

Suffice to say crop insurance adjusters are going to be busy this fall.

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Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026

Opinion

Tim Smith / Brandon Sun files Storm clouds hover over a crop in the Westman region last month. A series of deluges over the past four weeks has dogged harvest time.

Multiple factors add up to difficult harvest

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Preview

Multiple factors add up to difficult harvest

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Saturday, Sep. 12, 2026

Earlier this month, farmers sent agriculture publications some heartbreaking photos showing how heavy rains across the Prairies had pummelled a promising harvest.

An idled combine up to its axles in a flooded Saskatchewan field, straw bales surrounded by water and field equipment stranded on the far side of a washed-out section told the obvious story.

The Sept. 6-7 event was just the latest in a series of heavy rainfall events that have plagued this year’s growing season. Similar deluges hit different regions July 15-17, Aug. 14, and Aug. 31 — some of which were accompanied by tornadoes.

“What’s made this season challenging is the intensity of these rainfalls,” said Manitoba Agriculture ag meteorology specialist Alison Sass as she reviewed the summer’s weather patterns on an extension webinar.

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Saturday, Sep. 12, 2026

Opinion

Agriculture sector wary of ‘strong headwind’ from south

Laura Rance-Unger 5 minute read Saturday, Sep. 5, 2026

Industry analysts talked in circles on a recent webinar as they discussed the implications for agriculture of Canada’s deteriorating relationship with its largest trading partner.

On one hand, panellists for the hastily convened Canadian AgriFood Policy Institute event acknowledged the futility of negotiating on quicksand: a deal made today with the United States might be sucked into the muck tomorrow.

But on the other, webinar panellists speculated with varying degrees of optimism over what it will take to get negotiators back to bargaining.

This disconnect isn’t unique to this cluster of analysts. However, it underscores the difficulty of coming to terms with the seismic shift in America’s attitudes towards Canada.

Opinion

Laura Rance-Unger Tall waterhemp, in a wheat field west of Carman, is a highly invasive weed whose seeds are easily spread during harvest.

Beware invasive, ‘frightening’ waterhemp

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Preview

Beware invasive, ‘frightening’ waterhemp

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026

There’s a threat lurking on the edge of Manitoba farmers’ fields this fall that’s even scarier than the escalating trade war with their biggest customer.

Provincial extension advisers are warning farmers to watch for a weed known as “tall waterhemp,” which, true to its name, may already be towering above ready-to-harvest crops.

Those wispy tentacles waving in the breeze look pretty innocuous from a distance. But this highly invasive member of the pigweed family produces hundreds of thousands of seeds that are just itching for dispersal through farmers’ combines and across their fields.

Each of those tiny seeds — one small pill container filled halfway holds 44,000 — can produce plants with stems the width of saplings and heights of two to five metres. One or two plants can quickly turn into a patch. If waterhemp takes over a field, it can choke out the growing crop and cut yields by more than 90 per cent.

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Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026

Agriculture

SUPPLIED Drone photo of Bob Elliot’s 5,500 acre farm east of Stonewall on June 14. That flooding has now affected his crop yield going into harvest season which he’s estimating will only be 50 per cent of it’s normal production.

Summer flooding sinks some fall harvest hopes

Tiago Resko 4 minute read Preview

Summer flooding sinks some fall harvest hopes

Tiago Resko 4 minute read Friday, Aug. 21, 2026

A number of Manitoba farmers say they are expecting this year’s harvest to be one of the worst they’ve seen after major flooding decimated fields at the start of summer.

Bob Elliot, who has been farming east of Stonewall for 43 years, said he’s expecting the operation’s 5,500 acres to produce roughly half their normal yield.

Stonewall has logged the most precipitation this summer, with 523 millimetres of rainfall between May 1 and Aug. 16, according to Manitoba’s weather conditions report.

Elliot said the amount of rain has created a “unique” situation for farmers. “This is something that I don’t think anyone around here has ever seen.”

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Friday, Aug. 21, 2026

Agriculture

SUPPLIED PHOTO “(It’s) great to be in Manitoba,” said Peter Frey, chief operating officer at Spade Technologies, a California-based company that creates AI-powered dairy intelligence and forecasting technologies.

California tech company sees Manitoba as strategic gateway to dairy market

Aaron Epp 4 minute read Preview

California tech company sees Manitoba as strategic gateway to dairy market

Aaron Epp 4 minute read Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026

GROSSE ISLE — An AI-first California-based company that creates software for the dairy industry is establishing its Canadian headquarters in Winnipeg.

Spade Technologies announced Thursday it will build a team in Manitoba, positioning the province as the centre of its Canadian operations and a strategic gateway to the broader North American dairy market.

The company’s Canadian expansion is backed by SVG Ventures Thrive, a global agrifood innovation and investment platform. The Silicon Valley-based organization is investing $1.4 million into Spade via its Pioneer Fund, which invests in high-growth, early-stage agrifood technology companies.

The fund is backed by Farm Credit Canada as its anchor investor, alongside strategic limited partners including the Manitoba First Fund.

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Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026

Opinion

JEFF MCINTOSH / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada predicts this year’s total crop will be six per cent smaller than 2025, but still above the five-year average.

Crop storage headaches loom on horizon

Laura Rance-Unger 5 minute read Preview

Crop storage headaches loom on horizon

Laura Rance-Unger 5 minute read Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026

A sense of calm descends over Prairie fields this time of year — at least on the surface.

Activities become more limited in the weeks leading up to harvest. There’s not much farmers can do now to support this year’s crop, other than monitor and protect it from diseases such as sclerotinia in canola and leaf stripe and fusarium head blight in wheat and barley.

July is when you might see farmers wading into a thick stand of canola, conducting a so-called “wet pants test” to get a low-tech read on how much disease-inducing moisture is lurking in the canopy.

Disease pressure is high in a humid, hot summer like this one and it’s kept aerial applicators busy applying fungicides. Sclerotinia spores live on plant residues in the soil and blossom into a mould that destroys the canola stem, starving the maturing pods.

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Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026

Opinion

Laura Rance-Unger This tractor and grain cart have no driver. The unit is operated remotely and is called to the combine when it is time to unload the hopper.

Automation reaches new heights on farm

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Preview

Automation reaches new heights on farm

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Saturday, Jul. 25, 2026

LANGHAM, Sask. — The thousands of farmers from across the Prairies who flock to the annual Ag in Motion show every July seem oblivious to the possibility the technology on display could one day replace many of them.

Families with children in tow, Hutterite colony workers, grandparents and young couples just starting out roamed through the 600 or more exhibitor displays, amazed at how everything about farming just keeps getting bigger, more efficient and increasingly more automated.

It’s now possible to seed using a 100-foot-wide drill — a 12-foot jump over the widest available a few years ago — provided the farmer can afford a tractor with enough horsepower to pull it. Those sell for around $850,000 and up.

Granted, the number of farms with enough acres to justify that kind of width and drawing power is still relatively small, but farms continue to grow. And it’s no secret the number of people who have the interest, skills and financial wherewithal to run them continues to shrink.

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Saturday, Jul. 25, 2026

Opinion

University of Manitoba University of Manitoba research plots of Kernza, a perennial wheat that produces grain for milling into baked goods.

Kernza clicks some boxes to turn back clock

Laura Rance-Unger 5 minute read Preview

Kernza clicks some boxes to turn back clock

Laura Rance-Unger 5 minute read Saturday, Jul. 18, 2026

About 20 years ago, I hopped into a van with some university researchers, students and a government policy analyst to travel a long day’s drive south to the Land Institute in Kansas.

Established by Wes and Dana Jackson in the mid-1970s, the non-profit educational and research centre is trying to take modern agriculture back 10,000 years to revisit its pivot from perennial harvesting to annual cropping and reverse ecological damage.

It offers a fascinating premise — although one many would characterize as unrealistic and impractical by modern measures.

When plants complete their life cycle within one growing season, they put all their energy into producing viable seeds which become the nutritional powerhouses farmers harvest for food ingredients.

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Saturday, Jul. 18, 2026

Agriculture

JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES The Port of Churchill will ship grain this summer.

Grain latest Port of Churchill shipment

Free Press staff 2 minute read Preview

Grain latest Port of Churchill shipment

Free Press staff 2 minute read Wednesday, Jul. 15, 2026

Prairie grain will soon ship out of the Port of Churchill for the first time in at least five years.

Starting Friday, grain will be moved to the northern Manitoba port from The Pas, via the Hudson Bay Railway. Few details were provided Wednesday.

A global agricultural company, based in Canada, will send its grain to international markets via the deep-water port. The first ship should leave Churchill at the end of August or beginning of September, said Chris Avery, president of Arctic Gateway Group, the port’s owner.

Arctic Gateway Group is talking with other companies also looking to ship grain, Avery added.

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Wednesday, Jul. 15, 2026

Opinion

JEFF MCINTOSH / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES A wheat crop is harvested near Cremona, Alta. Canada is one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat.

Uncertainty bakes costs into CUSMA chain

Laura Rance-Unger 5 minute read Preview

Uncertainty bakes costs into CUSMA chain

Laura Rance-Unger 5 minute read Saturday, Jul. 11, 2026

Despite all the melodramatic hype and handwringing leading up to it, the July 1 timeline for renewing the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on trade passed without a U.S. commitment to extend its 2036 sunset.

The sun still rose the next day. Trucks and trains are still crossing the border carrying Canadian commodities (albeit not on that new bridge named after a famous hockey player). Grocery stores still carry imported fruits and vegetables from the south, and Canadians in several provinces still can’t buy American liquor.

Nothing changed, except everything.

We must now accept the certainty of continued uncertainty as Canada, along with the rest of the world, considers how to deal with the increasingly erratic leadership at the helm of the world’s largest economy.

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Saturday, Jul. 11, 2026

Opinion

Laura Rance-Unger Manitoba farmers must decide how much more to spend protecting this year’s waterlogged crops.

Big decisions put many farmers in same boat

Laura Rance-Unger 5 minute read Preview

Big decisions put many farmers in same boat

Laura Rance-Unger 5 minute read Friday, Jul. 3, 2026

There’s a lot of sweating, swatting, squinting — and quite possibly a little swearing — in Manitoba farmyards and fields this summer, as farmers navigate what’s turned into a hellish growing season.

Anyone required to work outdoors in the heat and humidity must also suffer through the relentless swarms of voracious mosquitoes and flies brought on by the recent wet weather. The biting insect populations are unlike anything we’ve seen in recent years and they’re making outside life miserable for humans and livestock alike.

It adds another layer to the frustration in a season when it seems nothing is going well. With each twist and turn, the “so now what?” questions keep piling up.

Just getting around the farm or to town for supplies is a chore with roads and bridges washed out in some areas. And the weather alerts just keep coming — warnings of tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and more heavy rain.

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Friday, Jul. 3, 2026

Opinion

Christinne Muschi / The Canadian Press files Carrots are harvested at fourth-generation, family-run vegetable business Mas & Fils Jardiniers in Saint-Michel, Que.

Farmers just one link in long supply chain

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Preview

Farmers just one link in long supply chain

Laura Rance-Unger 4 minute read Saturday, Jun. 27, 2026

Farmers are hardly front and centre in newly released federal and provincial reports analyzing why food has become less affordable for many Canadians.

The word “farmers” doesn’t even appear in the Manitoba government’s Grocery Price Strategy report until Page 7.

That’s a good thing, because it signals a new level of awareness in how we collectively view the food system. The focus is shifting from front-line farmers to the largely invisible and complicated supply chain connecting field to table.

It might even change how farmers see themselves.

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Saturday, Jun. 27, 2026

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