Now that’s
water safety takes pLanning
HOT!
It’s peak season and the heat is sending more people to the water » PaGe 16
july 26, 2012
Record setting temperatures in the U.S. » PaGe 32
SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 70, No. 30
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manitobacooperator.ca
$1.75
Cross-Canada tractor pull Little house on the trailer: Couple travels across the nation to document farmers’ stories and speak to city dwellers about rural issues
By Shannon VanRaes CO-OPERATOR STAFF
A
crowd is forming in the downtown Winnipeg parking lot, but it can’t obscure what has sparked the interest — a small red tractor pulling a tiny farmhouse. For more than a year that tiny farmhouse — veranda included — has been home to John Varty and his fiancée Molly Daley. The couple is driving across Canada in an effort to speak to farmers about the issues that concern them, while bringing rural issues to the attention of urbanites. “I have loved for the last year now, taking off my professor hat and putting my listening cap on,” said Varty, who had been teaching agricultural history and farm economics at McMaster University prior to embarking on the trans-Canada journey. He said the idea for the journey came to him suddenly. “One night in November about two years ago, I sat up in bed and said, ‘I’m going to drive a tractor and a small farmhouse that I’m going to build on a trailer across Canada and we’ll just interview farmers along the way,’” Varty said. Molly Daley and her fiancé John Varty are travelling across Canada by tractor to raise awareness about rural issues. Photo: Shannon VanRaes
See TRACTOR PULL on page 6 »
KAP on board with N.D. fertilizer plant project Cheap natural gas from North Dakota’s booming oilfields to feed $1.5-billion fertilizer plant By Daniel Winters co-operator staff / brandon
Publication Mail Agreement 40069240
K
eystone Agricultural Pro d u c e r s i s j o i n i n g the North Dakota Corn Growers Association’s bid to build a farmer-owned nitrogen fertilizer plant. With a feasibility study already completed, and sites in eastern North Dakota being examined for the $1.5-billion plant, the project is moving towards the business-planning stages. Following consultations with commodity groups with the organization, KAP has moved to
secure a seat on the proposed plant’s board, said president Doug Chorney. “We think there’s a real appetite among farmers to take control of some of their costs, and I think this facility will be just the kind of opportunity we need to address nitrogen fertilizer prices,” said Chorney. Retired industry veteran Don Pottinger, a former manager of the Brandon fertilizer plant now owned by Koch, is serving as a consultant for the project. There’s a strong business case See FERTILIZER on page 6 »
“We think there’s a real appetite among farmers to take control of some of their costs, and I think this facility will be just the kind of opportunity we need to address nitrogen fertilizer prices.”
Doug Chorney