Reading Time: 2 minutes The Bison Producers of Alberta (BPA) is the first of the refundable agriculture commissions to face the music and put itself out of business (see page 15). The obvious question is who will be next? The most likely candidates could be the elk or sheep commissions, both of which operate with few members and modest […] Read more
Bison: First of the refundable commissions bites the dust
Funding new research greenhouse a wise decision
Reading Time: 3 minutes It cost a lot of tax dollars, but the Alberta government investment in a new research greenhouse facility in Brooks could prove to be a wise decision for the future survival of the industry in Alberta. This province has a couple of distinct advantages when it comes to greenhouse crop production — lots of sunshine […] Read more
Livestock competitor or livestock customer?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Dermot Hayes, a respected livestock economist from Iowa State University, is admittedly flummoxed over the question of whether it will be grain producers or the livestock sector benefiting from the growing demand for protein in emerging economies. Hayes was in Winnipeg to deliver the annual Kraft Lecture, a memorial to the late University of Manitoba […] Read more
Magic-bullet solutions only last so long
Reading Time: 3 minutes We’ve all done it. Pushed our crop rotations, that is. You know that field had canola on it two years ago, but the seed you have already purchased, the fertilizer you applied last fall, or the delivery contract you already signed all make us do things that we know are not in our best agronomic […] Read more
CFIA makes a bold promise, but time will tell
Reading Time: 3 minutes You would be hard pressed to find anyone involved in almost any sector of agriculture regulated by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) who has anything positive to say (that is officially or publicly) about that federal organization. Comments by stakeholders and organizations about the agency’s high-handedness, arrogance and self-righteousness are always made in hushed […] Read more
Lessons for a novice gardener: Weed it and weep
Reading Time: 4 minutes Spring is almost over, and summer proper looms on the horizon. I always find the solstice bittersweet because every subsequent day is just a little shorter. As the season progresses, I’ve found that having a first vegetable garden is much like a new mother with her first-born baby. My garden is demanding, all-consuming, fussy and […] Read more
Confronting the Green Giant under the bed
ROOT PROBLEM Growing up in a household where potato chips abounded but even carrots were deemed exotic doesn’t teach you the best nutrition habits
Reading Time: 3 minutes I’ve never met a vegetable I couldn’t grow to hate. Honestly, with the exception of corn and potatoes, I spent most of my life avoiding vegetables the way a cat avoids a bath. I like to believe that genetically, I come from a long and successful line of hunters. When I imagine my ancestors I […] Read moreDefending America in a cow-eat-cow world
Reading Time: 3 minutes “Schadenfreude” is when an individual takes pleasure in the misfortune of others. Although the word is German, the behaviour it describes is global, and it was alive and well in Canada when we learned the U.S. had discovered a new case of BSE. Facebook lit up like a Christmas tree as folks in the business on […] Read more
Muzzled media spells bad news for democracy
Fiscal conservatism It doesn’t seem to apply when hiring communications staff to screen questions
Reading Time: 2 minutes This is supposed to be the era of instant communications but you wouldn’t know it when dealing with the federal government these days. Accessing even the most mundane information has become tedious and time consuming. In the past, communications staff facilitated information gathering by answering media requests with an expert or source who could best […] Read morePink slime a learning opportunity for Canada
Trust issues The furor over the beef additive comes at a time when consumers are leery of industry and government
Reading Time: 3 minutes The pink slime controversy is poised to become an infamous part of our cultural food lexicon — it’s gone viral and unfortunately, it’s given the beef industry another black eye. Pink slime refers to lean finely textured beef, or LFTB, an additive used as filler in ground beef. In fact, it really is still beef. […] Read more