Reading Time: 3 minutes As we enter another growing season, farmers are raising concerns over the federal government’s intention to review the option to defer cash purchase tickets — something that came with no warning prior to its mention in the federal budget. From where I sit, a mid-size incorporated family grain farm, we know that the reversal of […] Read more
Farmers can grow the Canadian economy — if they’re not shackled
Removing a tool that allows grain farmers to even out their income would hamper their ability to invest in and expand their operations
Choosing to laugh along the way can, umm, lighten the load
Inspired by a return to school, columnist Brenda Schoepp decides there are a few other things she wants to change in her life
Reading Time: 3 minutes As I write this, it is week four of my master of arts in global leadership program at a university near Victoria, British Columbia. After 40 years of being out of school, I can honestly say that I have met my challenge. So tired by day’s end, I collapse on my foam bed. Not one […] Read more
Will agriculture and food processing finally take centre stage?
A new report says these two sectors are key to Canada’s future prosperity — and that recognition is a welcome development
Reading Time: 3 minutes A recent report from the Advisory Council on Economic Growth highlighted agriculture and food processing as keys to economic growth in Canada. The advisory council called on Ottawa to create a growth strategy for what it calls “agfood,” which it defines as everything from “field to fork.” Its report says that could generate another US$30 […] Read more
Why on earth would someone go into a bin with the auger running?
Reader can’t fathom why someone would do that, but safety expert explains it only takes a moment of carelessness
Reading Time: 3 minutes Editor’s note: The questions posed in the letter from Doug Burkard were passed on to Glen Blahey, agricultural health and safety specialist with the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association. Both the letter and response are below. I have just read the article “Trapped in a flash — the horror waiting inside a grain bin.” I was […] Read more
We take them for granted, but how would we manage without them?
Travelling in poor countries makes you appreciate a pair of good boots, and the generous spirit of those who can only dream of such luxuries
Reading Time: 3 minutes When I was a child mother would call out to us, ‘Leave your boots at the door!’ — and we would topple upon each other, kicking off the seemingly unimportant footwear, unaware of the value or the privilege of those boots. Even in the leanest of years, some kind of footwear was always provided, despite […] Read more
The groupthink on CO2 levels ignores some basic science
Views will change as atmospheric CO2 continues to rise with little or no significant change in global temperatures
Reading Time: 3 minutes As an agricultural producer, a former science teacher, and someone who is involved in the delivery of agricultural extension, I would like to submit some comments in relation to Daniel Bezte’s article in the Feb. 13 edition, “Articles on climate change provoke some readers“. The article’s title is entirely fitting because articles on climate change […] Read more
New technologies are creating new ways to grow fresh produce
Vertical farming operations are popping up everywhere and this new technology can complement traditional agriculture
Reading Time: 3 minutes We were in Holland and our group stood in amazement at the growing capabilities of Koppert Cress. Owner Rob Baan, a policeman’s son turned world entrepreneur, was emphatic that neither soil nor light is needed to grow food — only heat. And all of those components could be provided by technology, he said. In a […] Read more
Chicken industry takes wing on some very creative marketing
Lowly chicken wings used to be a big problem for processors, now they are a huge and growing source of profits
Reading Time: 3 minutes If there is one thing that North Americans love to eat — it is chicken wings. During the Super Bowl game alone, one billion wings are consumed along with an ocean of beer. Canadians are right in there chowing down on the once tossed tidbit, and continue to eat a few birds each year themselves. […] Read more
Strong, enduring relationships don’t happen by accident
The reaction of customers to hearing a farmer’s story shows the importance of having producers on crop missions
Reading Time: 3 minutes This January I went on a much-anticipated trip to Maui with my wife. Twenty years ago, we committed to spending the rest of our lives together and thought this was a good way to celebrate such a milestone (sans children, of course!). One month prior to this celebration, I was over the Indian Ocean heading to […] Read more
Judge free trade by what we have lost
Farmers’ share of food profits has declined as has rural Canada’s economy, while farm debt and food imports have gone up
Reading Time: 3 minutes Over the decades since the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and later, NAFTA, was signed, Canadian agriculture has undergone a significant shift. There was once a multitude of diverse local and regional economic drivers, but now we have a “one-size-fits-all” export-driven, low-priced commodity production model. Farm capital needs have skyrocketed as illustrated by the massive […] Read more