Reading Time: 3 minutes Move over, Silicon Valley — hackers will soon be setting their sights on Saskatoon to solve the industry’s biggest problems. The agriculture industry, that is. “Emerging Agriculture is a weekend hackathon where we get students and non-students interested in agriculture together to collaborate on agriculture-based technology and ideas, and hopefully make some startup companies out […] Read more
Tech conference brings together bright minds to ‘hack’ ag industry issues
The Emerging Agriculture conference Jan. 9-11 aims to foster ag industry innovations
Get the lowdown on marketing your farm products
Workshop takes place in Fort Saskatchewan, register by January 13
Reading Time: < 1 minute Want to sell farm products to the public? The Marketing Made Easy workshop on Jan. 20 in Fort Saskatchewan “examines selling products at farmers’ markets and beyond,” said provincial marketing specialist Karen Goad. “It’s a chance to uncover strategies for creating a lasting first impression, clearly identify your target clients and make them choose you. […] Read more
Wants, needs, and some advice for young farmers
When you ask beginning farmers about their priorities, a few key themes quickly emerge
Reading Time: 4 minutes Farm Management Canada recently hosted a fabulous conference in Regina where I was also contributing. The conference was peppered with interactive breakout sessions that made for lively discussion. Three of the questions stuck in my mind and I would like to share five comments on each of those questions with you. I don’t think it […] Read more
Five reasons to celebrate 2015
There's no denying it was a troubled year, but don't forget the many good things that happened
Reading Time: 5 minutes As you look back on 2015, do you feel the January blues coming on? The oil price crash went from bad to awful, tighter margins were made worse by summer drought, and ‘disaster’ seems a charitable description for Bill 6. But there were lots of positive developments in the past year and now’s not a […] Read more
Drilling down into production costs
AgriProfit$ is a free program that breaks down cost of production for every enterprise on a farm
Reading Time: 2 minutes Enrolment for this year’s AgriProfit$ program is open until the middle of January. “With changes in today’s environment and economy, there seems to be renewed interest in building business plans, following cost of production and getting adequate returns for that production,” said provincial research analyst Pauline Van Biert. “The AgriProfit$ is a business analysis program […] Read more
Subway to switch to cage-free eggs by 2025
Reuters — Sandwich chain Subway said it would stop using eggs laid by caged hens in its North American outlets by 2025, joining a number of companies that are going cage-free amid pressure from consumers and animal-rights groups. Subway, which already serves eggs laid by free-range hens at its outlets in Europe and eggs laid […] Read more
Farm leaders aren’t happy, but willing to try again
The last round of farm safety ‘consultations’ wasn’t meaningful, but farm reps say they’re cautiously hopeful the next round will be
Reading Time: 3 minutes As far as Alberta farm leaders are concerned, “all bets are off” on whether producer groups will be consulted on farm safety regulations following the passing of the controversial Bill 6. “We were told right from the get-go with the new NDP government that they wanted to consult with us, and I guess that means […] Read more
U.S. meat cases awash with Christmas hams at bargain
Chicago | Reuters –– Shoppers preparing to feast on ham for Christmas can do so without breaking their budget, thanks to record amounts of pork as the industry rebounds from a deadly pig virus, said analysts following the government’s monthly cold storage report on Tuesday. Christmas is the top-ranked holiday for eating ham, followed by […] Read more
Living large — and eating only local — in a land of bounty
It’s a huge shift to eat only foods produced in Alberta, but the members of the Ruzicka family consider themselves ‘so lucky’
Reading Time: 3 minutes In a season where most people spend more, the Ruzicka family is learning to live with less. Shannon and Danny Ruzicka and children Madalynne, Joshua and Molly have been living on local foods since August. “Our experiment is to live off the Albertan land for a year — we live off what we grow, raise […] Read more
Nestle to switch to cage-free eggs in U.S. by 2020
New York | Reuters –– Nestle said Tuesday it will stop using eggs laid by caged hens in its U.S. products by 2020, making it the largest packaged food company to go cage-free amid pressure from consumers and animal-rights groups. The world’s largest food maker said it uses about 20 million pounds of eggs annually […] Read more