Reading Time: 2 minutes Farmers Can’t Sit On The CWB Fence I farm for a living and one of the most important machines on my farm is actually my sales department, the Canadian Wheat Board. The federal government now wants to end the board’s ability to bargain on behalf of me and my neighbours. Most of us are pretty […] Read more
LETTERS – for Aug. 29, 2011
Agriculture Policy Missing In March To Premier’s Chair
Reading Time: 3 minutes There is something of an inevitability to politics in Alberta. Anyone who wins the leadership of the Progressive Conservative party will be the next premier. If recent polls are any indication, that person will in all likelihood also win the next election. That makes the policy positions of the six candidates running for the premier’s […] Read more
Voluntary Wheat Board Would Have A Tough Time
Reading Time: 2 minutes An excerpt from “Removal of the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly: Future changes for farmers and the grain industry,” published by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. The paper says change would have advantages, but a voluntary CWB would have challenges. The full report is at www.fcpp.org. A voluntary board could be organized according to a […] Read more
The Battle Is Over Why Keep Bashing The Board?
Reading Time: 3 minutes After decades of hard work, the Canadian Wheat Board’s opponents have finally won their battle. Normally, congratulations would be in order, but congratulations are deserved only by those who have courage of their convictions and are gracious in victory. We’re not seeing much of either. Instead, the winners of this debate are continuing to heap […] Read more
LETTERS – for Aug. 15, 2011
Reading Time: 2 minutes Re: “CWB demise means big changes to grain-marketing landscape,” July 4. On behalf of the steering committee for an all-wheat commission in Alberta, we would like to clarify a comment that our commission would be created in response to anticipated changes to the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB). Members of the Alberta Winter Wheat Producers Commission […] Read more
Are Higher Commodity Prices The “New Normal?”
Reading Time: 2 minutes purdue university release Higher commodity prices might be the rule rather than the exception in the coming years, a Purdue University agricultural economist says. While prices regularly rise and fall, they have trended upward in a way that suggests they’ve reached a plateau, said Mike Boehlje. He attributed much of the price movement to bullish […] Read more
Stampede Leads The Way In Rodeo And Chuckwagon Safety
Reading Time: 3 minutes You have to hand it to the public relations masters at the Calgary Stampede organization. They are good at what they do. The stampede has been a lightning rod for animal rights groups trying to cash in (literally) on the stampede image. Right on schedule when the stampede starts, they begin their demonstrations, ads and […] Read more
Update From East Africa: People Pushed To The Brink
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadian Foodgrains Bank executive director Jim Cornelius is on a study leave in Kenya and Ethiopia. Last week he sent this observation from southern Ethiopia, which is experiencing its worst food crisis in 60 years. Unlike the major Ethiopia famines in 1972 and 1984, which were concentrated in the northern highlands of Ethiopia, this food […] Read more
Taking A Position:
Reading Time: 3 minutes Saving soil}North America’s largest organization of soil scientists calls for a co-ordinated effort to reduce erosion and store carbon At its 66th annual international conference in July, the Soil and Water Conservation Society released this position statement on climate change and soil and water conservation. SWCS is a scientific organization with chapters throughout the U.S. […] Read more
Winners And Losers From The Demise Of The Wheat Board
Reading Time: 3 minutes So much has been written about the fate of the Canadian Wheat Board that one approaches the topic with trepidation. The government has made it clear that the board’s days as a monopoly are numbered and I expect the feds are well along with the enabling legislation to strip the CWB of its powers. In […] Read more