Reading Time: 3 minutes By press time there was still no indication as to the fate of the mandatory $1 national cattle checkoff. Time is running out as there is a deadline to meet for government regulations to be put into place to renew the mandatory checkoff. The stumbling block is the memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the Alberta […] Read more
Checkoff extension is at an impasse, but there is hope
Political misstep may backfire
Reading Time: 2 minutes A recent press release from the National Farmers Union (NFU) came as something of a surprise. It declared that the NFU was “…proud to declare its solidarity with Idle No More…” Many readers of that proclamation probably wondered what a farm organization had in common with a protest group whose goals are obscure at best. […] Read more
World organizations are turning their attention to animal welfare Part two of two
Competitors South America and emerging European economies are stepping up their game on animal welfare
Reading Time: 2 minutes In part two of this look at key global developments, University of British Columbia animal welfare expert Dr. David Fraser highlights an innovative effort gaining steam in Canada, along with European and South American progress. On the home front, a key big-picture development that also promises to hold substantial profile on the global radar is […] Read moreA penny a plant — back to the future in weed control?
Alternatives Researchers call for greater crop rotational diversity and more focus on integrated pest management
Reading Time: 2 minutes Back in the days when being a farm kid spelled work and a penny was still worth five Mojos at the local store, Grandpa had us all out there one hot, July afternoon hand roguing his seed oats for a penny a plant. If some agronomists are correct, it’s looking like farm kids of the […] Read moreRural America needs to pick the battles worth fighting
margins A beef producer says industry solutions don’t help if producers aren’t part of the industry
Reading Time: 2 minutes Remarks by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack at 2012 Farm Journal Forum in Washington, D.C., Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012 Now, we’ve had this discussion about the Farm Bill. Why is it that we don’t have a Farm Bill? It isn’t just the differences of policy. It’s the fact that the rural America with a […] Read moreThe Agriculture Department may not be spared
Reading Time: 4 minutes Whenever energy prices take a dive in Alberta, cutbacks to government spending are sure to follow. Reports indicate that the provincial government will be short over $3 billion in tax revenue due to depressed bitumen prices. Deputy ministers have been ordered to come up with budget reductions of 10 per cent for their respective departments. […] Read more
New advocate will need to define job
Reading Time: 2 minutes A recent appointment by the ruling PC government would indicate that it’s full steam ahead for their overall land use policy agenda. Lethbridge lawyer Lee Cutforth was appointed the first-ever Alberta property rights advocate. At this point it’s hard to determine what his exact role will be as it is the first job of its […] Read more
The meat industry needs to show it has nothing to hide
Reading Time: 2 minutes Over a century ago, a journalist obtained employment in the meat-packing industry in Chicago intending to draw attention to the deplorable working conditions. When Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle was finally published, the public reacted not to the conditions endured by the workers, but to diseased cattle and the lack of sanitation in an industry […] Read more
The world turns its attention to animal welfare
World standards The World Organization for Animal Health starts with a focus on beef production
Reading Time: 3 minutes Part 1 of 2 We hear a lot about how livestock welfare has become a front-burner issue around the world. But what specifically is happening at that big-picture global level that Canadian livestock producers and their industries should keep an eye on? University of British Columbia animal welfare expert Dr. David Fraser is often invited […] Read moreThe property rights battle goes on and on… again
Opposition fodder It could, or rather should, have been done with a lot more buy-in from the rural landowning public
Reading Time: 3 minutes Just when you thought it was out of sight and out of mind, the PC government brings back the issue that lost them the rural south, and almost much of the rest of rural Alberta in the last election. Bill 2 — the Responsible Energy Development Act covers energy-industry-related issues, but also includes the consolidation […] Read moreCyber-Savvy Farmer
