For young women especially, “it’s not always easy to step into roles in this sector, whether it’s part of a farm business or in a wide range of other jobs and careers,” says the director of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.

Opinion: For women in agriculture, opportunities abound

Mentorship program the latest enhancement for a sector that’s opened its doors to women

Reading Time: 3 minutes I can’t remember when I first heard the song “I am woman” by Helen Reddy, but it was in the basement of my parents’ house, where I would play my mom’s old 45s on a portable record player she’d had since her teens. I remember liking the singer’s voice but didn’t really understand the song. […] Read more

For hog farmers, energy costs are the second-highest operating expense after feed.

Opinion: It’s hard to be green while in the red

Farmers must make money before they can invest in sustainability and the carbon price isn’t helping

Reading Time: 3 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – I’m not the one to come up with the line used in this article’s headline, but I wish I was. It is a succinct way of describing one of the most challenging policy aspects of sustainability. It is difficult, even impossible, to change farming practices aimed at improving environmental sustainability when experiencing […] Read more


Farmers protesting in Toulouse, France, on January 16, 2024, with tractors bearing placards that read ‘Macron still an effort, soon all farmers will be dead’. Photo by Alain Pitton/NurPhoto via Reuters

Opinion: Will protests pay off?

Political movements provide an important outlet, allowing farmers to express the anger they feel

Reading Time: 4 minutes More than 500 tractors made their way to the motorways linking to Paris on Jan. 29, as walls of hay rose here and there in the capital’s arteries. French farmers vowed to blockade the Paris region until their demands are met, and kept up pressure ahead of a European summit on Feb. 1. On Jan. […] Read more

The upward trend in grocery fees, primarily driven by Loblaw and Walmart, exacerbates the challenges for suppliers and independent grocers alike.

Opinion: The emerging consensus on food prices

Why all political parties agree that the grocer code of conduct is necessary

Reading Time: 3 minutes The Parliamentary Agriculture Committee has embarked on a mission to address rising food prices, extending an invitation to both Loblaw and Walmart. In a letter from the committee, Ottawa urges both retailers to voluntarily comply with the proposed grocer’s code of conduct or risk facing legislative action. In other words, Canada is on the verge […] Read more


Bill Whitelaw is a director and advisor to many industry boards, including the Canadian Society for Evolving Energy, which he chairs. He speaks and comments frequently on the subjects of social licence, innovation and technology, and energy supply networks.

Opinion: Alberta Outrage Machine strikes back at Charlie Angus

His private member’s bill was meant to get an over-the-top reaction. And Alberta fell for it

Reading Time: 4 minutes Well played, Chuck. Well played. You put the landmine out there, with a big neon blinking “TREAD ON ME” marquee, and as you knew they would, a bunch of righteously indignant Albertans goose-stepped right toward your private member’s bill minefield. BLAM. BAM. KAPOWEE. They gave it to you good; just like in a vintage Batman […] Read more

Knowledge is our holy ground and storytelling is the medium in tourism and agriculture.

Schoepp: Telling the farm story

The tourism sector can offer agriculture some lessons on connections

Reading Time: 3 minutes I was thrilled to attend a premier tourism conference in January and I certainly felt at home because tourism loves Canadian agriculture; so much so that the conference theme of regeneration was based on the agricultural model. Regenerative tourism digs deep into the concept of leaving a community better than before you visited – not […] Read more


(Artisteer/iStock/Getty Images)

Bill C-282 is an awful idea

Bill risks holding other economic sectors hostage to safeguard the interests of a small, privileged group of farmers

Reading Time: 3 minutes Bill C-282 sits in the Canadian Senate and stands on the precipice of becoming law in a matter of weeks. Essentially, this bill seeks to bestow immunity upon supply management from any potential future trade negotiations, without offering increased market access to potential trade partners. In simpler terms, it risks holding all other economic sectors […] Read more

How industry neglect fueled a US$2.2 billion verdict

How industry neglect fueled a US$2.2 billion verdict

The agriculture sector cannot afford to bobble the gene editing ball as it did with glyphosate

Reading Time: 2 minutes Bayer AG’s Monsanto has been ordered to pay a staggering US$2.2 billion to a former Roundup user who linked his cancer to the herbicide. This significant sum is the largest verdict in the ongoing five-year litigation involving the weed killer. However, the legal battles are far from over. There are still more than 50,000 cases […] Read more


Ruminant producers, but especially beef producers, have been caught in a vortex of environmental emotion that is not supported by accurate science or informed advocates.

Schoepp: Ruminants in the COP28 crosshairs

There’s been little meaningful engagement with agriculture on this issue

Reading Time: 4 minutes The United Nations Climate Conference, COP28, recently held in Rome, was for the first time focused on agriculture. The outcome seems to be a set of seriously flawed directives for farmers. In the 28-year history of the Conference of the Parties, agriculture has always taken a backseat. The 2023 meetings brought food production forward, not […] Read more

What type of mindset do we use in ag and food as we do business within our sector, and how will this affect the future?

Opinion: Getting into the farming mindset

Your frame of mind can contribute greatly to your success

Reading Time: 3 minutes I had some eye-opening conversations on generational differences when I spoke to farmers last fall for Country Guide’s Best Advice podcast series. Early in our conversations, I could tell what type of mindset each farmer had. They quickly shared how different they were from their parents in how they chose to operate. Not only were […] Read more


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