WHAT’S UP at ag days?
The farming game For reaL
See our special event section » Pgs 33 to 64
A new card game aims to meld farming with fun » Pg 3
January 8, 2015
SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 73, No. 2
Tax deferrals for soaked and parched West
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manitobacooperator.ca
$1.75
AG DAYS COUNTDOWN
Twenty-two Manitoba RMs are eligible By Dave Bedard AgCanada.com editor
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he federal government has released its first list of areas in Western Canada in which producers forced to sell livestock due to feed shortages are eligible to defer taxes. Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan ranchers under pressure from excess moisture share a common problem with farmers in B.C. and northwestern Alberta who faced drought. The list of drought-affected areas so far includes 31 census subdivisions in British Columbia and four counties and five municipal districts in See TAX DEFERRALS on page 6 »
The crowds will converge at Brandon’s Keystone Centre in less than two weeks as the annual Ag Days gets underway Jan. 20 to 22. For a peek at what’s in store for this year’s show see our special section starting pg. 33. file photo
The little railway that could Boundary Trails Railway Co. had a record year in a year of epic railway snags By Allan Dawson Publication Mail Agreement 40069240
co-operator staff /darlingford
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o u t h e r n M a n i t o b a ’s Boundary Trails Railway Co m p a n y ( BT RC ) h a d geography on its side last year, more than tripling the number of cars it handled. The 38-km short line, which runs from Morden to Binney Corner just west of Manitou, handled 619 grain cars in
the 2013-14 shipping year. The company is owned by 90 shareholders, mostly farmers, who purchased the line from Canadian Pacific. “We are one of the most easternmost short lines so we’re close to Thunder Bay, we’re close to the U.S.,” BTRC’s general manager Travis Long told farmers attending the Boundary Loading Group’s second annual meeting Dec. 10,
2014. Both CP and CN Rail focused grain shipping in corridors where they could turn cars quickly after the federal government ordered them to meet minimum shipping targets starting last March. “And second to that we are on a branch line that CP has to travel on regularly.” CP Rail ser vices Bunge’s Altona canola-crushing plant
six days a week so CP crews can work cars towards Morden for BTRC to pick up. Most of BTRC’s business is producer cars individual farmers or their agents ordered through the Canadian Grain Commission. Producer cars, which are enshrined in the Canada Grain Act, are a competitive tool allowing farmers See LITTLE RAILWAY on page 7 »
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