One economist says that if rural Australia were a member country of the euro zone, international financial markets would be refusing to finance the sector
Reading Time: 3 minutes The closer West Australian farmers get to seeding time, which is any time after the end of April, the more intense the debate becomes whether the eastern Wheat Belt will ever be the same again. Now there are reports of farmers abandoning their land and walking off. Enough is enough for some. The old men […] Read moreThe crisis deepens in the West Australian wheat lands
Who will Ritz listen to — the industry or the WCWGA?
Reading Time: 2 minutes Some in the industry wonder whether they are wasting their time discussing how to improve Canada’s wheat registration system. Recent history shows that while Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz offers to consult with all of the industry, he only listens to a few. “Ritz listens to the Wheat Growers and Grain Growers of Canada more than […] Read more
Price bubbles and commodity markets
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters / A thoughtful new paper from researchers at the University of Illinois marks a significant step forward in research on how commodity futures prices are formed. Until recently, the academic and policy debate about futures price formation has been locked in an acrimonious and polarized standoff between market fundamentalists, who insist all price moves […] Read more
The crisis deepens in the West Australian wheat lands
One economist says that if rural Australia were a member country of the euro zone, international financial markets would be refusing to finance the sector
Reading Time: 3 minutes The closer West Australian farmers get to seeding time, which is any time after the end of April, the more intense the debate becomes whether the eastern Wheat Belt will ever be the same again. Now there are reports of farmers abandoning their land and walking off. Enough is enough for some. The old men […] Read moreWho will Ritz listen to — the industry or the WCWGA?
Reading Time: 2 minutes Some in the industry wonder whether they are wasting their time discussing how to improve Canada’s wheat registration system. Recent history shows that while Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz offers to consult with all of the industry, he only listens to a few. “Ritz listens to the Wheat Growers and Grain Growers of Canada more than […] Read more
Media fascinated with horsemeat
Reading Time: 4 minutes One can’t help but notice the recent fascination the urban media has had with horsemeat. It’s particularly curious for the North American media to be so obsessed, being the consumption of horsemeat is virtually non-existent on this continent. Yet we saw a constant stream of news reports that the so-called horsemeat scandal had spread to […] Read more
An Alberta giant passes on
Reading Time: 2 minutes It was a sad day for Albertans when former premier Ralph Klein passed away recently. He was a larger-than-life leader who reached a status that few politicians reach — he was a legend and an icon. He led the province from a fiscal basket case to fiscal surpluses and he did it his way — […] Read more
Country-of-origin labelling: The fight goes on
It’s the kind of non-tariff trade barrier Canadian exporters can expect to see more of in the future
Reading Time: 3 minutes Not long ago, tariffs were the key barriers to Canadian beef exports. Tariff barriers are still significant problems (Korea for example), but as tariff barriers fall, countries are getting more creative in building border barriers. In some ways, it makes me nostalgic for the good old days when our market access efforts primarily consisted of […] Read moreFighting desertification is part of Western Canada’s heritage
The lessons of the ‘Dirty ’30s’ are still valuable ones to pass on to farmers in other countries
Reading Time: 3 minutes When I went to the barber in Swift Current in the summer of 1937 to get a haircut and shave, he said the haircut was OK but he had quit shaving people. I asked “how come” and he said he couldn’t keep an edge on the razor anymore. With the terrible dust and the shortage […] Read moreTrials and tribulations keep on coming for cattle industry
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s a good thing folks in the cattle and beef industry are tough and resilient considering what has happened to them over the past year or so. I should add patient to those attributes for their accepting with fortitude every new calamity and setback that would almost wipe out a lot of other industries. Perhaps […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
