Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s easy to get a little giddy when things go much better than expected. For example, take last year’s bin buster of a crop. By any measure, it was an astounding production feat. Western Canadian farmers shattered all previous records on most major crops, growing a whopping 76 million tonnes, 50 per cent higher than […] Read more
The ‘new’ wore off of ‘normal’ pretty quickly
The grain industry may have gotten a little too optimistic after last year’s whopper of a crop
Schoepp: Farms on the war front
Straight from the hip: Food is a weapon of war, and farmers in Iraq, Syria, and Ukraine are the latest pawns in this awful charade
Reading Time: 3 minutes It is an anxious time in our little world. The Internet brings us to the front lines every day as we watch and anticipate the outcome of conflict around the globe. As I scanned the news, I thought of the suffering of women and children — who asked no part in this charade. And I […] Read more
Should Ag Minister Ritz tackle the railways next?
Gerry Ritz won the wheat board battle, now it’s time to find a fix for grain transportation woes
Reading Time: 2 minutes Gerry Ritz slew the Canadian Wheat Board, but can he rein in the railways? If anyone can, it’s Canada’s 33rd minister of agriculture. It won’t be easy, but neither was ending the wheat board’s 69-year-old monopoly. Ritz had help. Key was Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who had a deep disdain for the board and made […] Read more
Doing a better job of turning grass into grain — and saying so
Growing more forage is the right thing to do. Is the beef industry prepared if it happens?
Reading Time: 3 minutes If you’re looking for proof that there is no such thing as bad publicity, beef may be a good example. For years it’s been painted as a public health and environmental villain, and recently there were more reports on how bovine frontal and rearward methane emissions are a major source of climate-altering greenhouse gas. All […] Read more
In Senegal, a land rush is pushing local farmers to the side
Africans without formal title are losing their farms to international biofuel and cash crop companies
Reading Time: 2 minutes From Farm Radio Weekly, published by Farm Radio International, a Canadian organization that works with farm broadcasters in sub-Saharan Africa Doudou Sow is furious. For the last 10 years, small-scale farmers in his area have been steadily losing their land to an influx of private investors. The Senegalese farmer says that outsiders have been purchasing […] Read more
Playing Russian roulette with food
The urge to teach someone a lesson seldom inspires sound policy
Reading Time: 2 minutes Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia is banning imports of a wide variety of agricultural products from Canada, Europe and the United States. The effects of this decision on Canada will likely be felt in the pork industry as we export to Russia well over $300 million worth of pork products each year. Putin’s move […] Read more
When it comes to seed, we live in a land of giants
Straight from the hip: Big seed, chemical, trading and retailing companies dominate world commerce
Reading Time: 3 minutes When Jack’s mother threw the bean seeds out the window, little did she know of their powers. Overnight, a large stalk had grown and Jack promptly climbed up the beanstalk to their future fortune. That fairy tale now mirrors reality as we look at the massive growth in GM seeds and their place in gardens […] Read more
Out of step with the people who matter most
A $100,000 study of consumer perceptions of agriculture speaks volumes about those asking the questions
Reading Time: 3 minutes The final report to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada from a series of consumer focus groups it commissioned last year is enlightening — but not because of what it tells us about how domestic customers view this country’s agriculture sector. Rather it speaks volumes about the people asking the questions. The final report “Modern agriculture and […] Read more
Where will trade grow?
Straight from the hip: There is a host of buyers for Canadian beef and many opportunities to grow the sector
Reading Time: 3 minutes The average age of the farmer in Japan is now 62, and very few farms are being started. This has left land abandoned or underutilized, with Japanese farmers now supplying just 39 per cent of the nation’s caloric intake (down from 73 per cent in 1965), which is a measure of self-sufficiency. Japan is in […] Read more
Are Prairie farmers still keen to move grain?
Canadian Grain Commission data shows deliveries to elevators have slowed considerably
Reading Time: 3 minutes The pace at which the handling and transportation system has been able to move grain off the Prairies and into export markets this spring has almost certainly exceeded all expectations. But the data through to late July has raised a new question: Are Prairie farmers still keen to move all the exceptional 2013 harvest? What’s […] Read more
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