Reading Time: 4 minutes The view that we need to change how we produce food in the name of sustainability has become ubiquitous in Canada and other developed countries. Indeed, spurred on by the perceptions of some consumers, the food industry has become keenly interested in how farmers produce food. They want to know about their carbon footprint; animal […] Read more
The four fallacies of sustainable food production
Intensive, large-scale production employing the latest technology is key to feeding a hungry world
Caring is the first step in change
Empowerment changes lives, and it happens with one little word, action, or act of kindness at a time
Reading Time: 3 minutes I have often been challenged to describe why it is important to empower those in our world — especially women outside of our community or country. Women who others may believe will never live their dream or even work to their potential because of the political or cultural environment in which they live. Girls and […] Read more
Herbicide-resistant weeds are just the symptom
Is resistance the problem, or is it farmers’ dependence on chemistry?
Reading Time: 3 minutes For decades, the experts have treated the growing problem of herbicide-resistant weeds as something solvable by the next new chemistry or biological breakthrough. But now more are stepping back and acknowledging it as a symptom of a much bigger issue in modern agriculture. In fact, one of the world’s leading experts in managing herbicide resistance […] Read more
Consumers are dissatisfied — and that’s why farmers’ markets are booming
More and more people are distrustful of big corporations, and farmers’ markets offer ‘food authenticity’ the big chains can’t match
Reading Time: 3 minutes As the warm weather winds down, farmers’ markets around the country are looking at yet another record season. Despite substantial food price increases in recent years, these operations, which typically sell food at a higher price, have generated more than $700 million in revenues this year in Ontario alone, and plans to open more are […] Read more
Farmers still waiting for better default protection on grain sales
Leaving feed mills exempt from coverage under existing licensing and bonding puts farmers at risk to losses
Reading Time: 3 minutes In 2009, western Canadian farm groups submitted a report to Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz outlining options for a program to provide security to producers when grain buyers default on payments. The main options were fund-based, insurance-based or bond-based programs. It was not that there wasn’t already a form of protection in place. The Canadian Grain […] Read more
A familiar story from south of the line
The arguments from both railways and their critics are the same, and so is the result — a clogged system with farmers paying the price
Reading Time: 2 minutes Officials aren’t going to do much to make the trains run on time to alleviate the 2014 ag rail problems. Farmers and elevators need to prepare to suffer through 2015 — and maybe 2016 and beyond. That’s my prediction after listening to nine straight hours of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board hearing on the railroad […] Read more
The formula for success on your farm
Straight from the hip: The challenges in farming are numerous and diverse, but Nuffield Scholar Jamie McCoy has found successful farmers have a common approach
Reading Time: 3 minutes When Jamie McCoy, my guest from Wales, sat around our fire last summer, she glowed with passion for the family farm. A fellow Nuffield Scholar, her project was to look at opportunities for small holdings. The release of her report in 2014, the International Year of Family Farming, could not be timelier. Of course the […] Read more
What lies beneath your feet is a marvel of nature
It’s believed native grasslands contain plants a century old, their tillers advancing inch by inch to create a perpetual ecosystem
Reading Time: 3 minutes The other day, the Dickinson Research Extension Center became home to an unstoppable force that is going to drill a well. In this case, an oil well. The spot selected is in the middle of a native grass pasture. Who knows the age of that native grass, but certainly the plants were there long before […] Read more
The campaign to whitewash farm and ranch vocabulary
Cargill is apparently no longer in the business of ‘slaughtering’ cattle
Reading Time: 2 minutes Farmers and ranchers have a well-deserved reputation for straight talk. Saying what you mean and meaning what you say, after all, were essential elements in the handshake deals that were the hallmark of rural business for generations. They still are. Now, however, some folks outside the nation’s fields and fences are working overtime to wash […] Read more
Women should take measures to avoid a hard landing
Planning ahead for your business is critical for when the day a crisis hits, or when you want to make big changes
Reading Time: 3 minutes I do a lot of flying and still to this day find the takeoff rather exciting. After 35 years of travel there has never been an incident with takeoff — but the landings have been mixed. There were quite a few times when we could not land because of weather, and times when the pilot […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
