Kevin Hursh

Reading Time: 3 minutes If you’re going to give any praise a farm safety net program that’s been steadily criticized over the years, you have to expect some feedback. In a recent column, I took the unusual stance of pointing out the benefits of AgriStability. The program has not worked well for livestock producers suffering years of poor margins. […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes Here in Canada, we’re enhancing our livestock identification programs. Individual cattle ID with radio frequency ear tags (RFID), age verification, premise ID, animal movement records – about the only thing that isn’t planned is a GPS locator attached to each individual animal. Incredibly, American efforts for a National Animal Identification System are back to square […] Read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes Limits are going to be placed on farmers saving their own wheat as seed. For farmers who are cynical, and we tend to be a cynical bunch sometimes, this will sound like a money grab. In this case, there’s an important reason. It’s an attempt to preserve the value of new wheat varieties that have […] Read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes Even worse, many producers report that their extra efforts in getting calves preconditioned to go into a feedlot are not rewarded. A recent survey by Farm Credit Canada shows consumer demand doesn’t rate high on the radar screen of most producers. Consumer demand ranked last when producers and agribusiness owners were asked what factors were […] Read more