Reading Time: 2 minutes In the late winter of 1975, our family was having lunch in a Brandon, Man. restaurant. At the table next to ours, three fertilizer executives (two local and one from the U.S.) were discussing product pricing and bemoaning the fact that it was “much easier” for producers of potash or phosphate to justify price increases […] Read more
Fertilizer Pricing The Last Straw For Farmers
Rural Bus Service Needs To Be Supported
Reading Time: 3 minutes Small town and rural residents in Alberta deserve the same treatment Greyhound bus lines recently announced it would reduce or terminate bus service to small towns in Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario. It also stated that it was reviewing unprofitable bus services to small towns in Alberta. No one doubts that this move by Greyhound is […] Read more
Letters to the editor – for Sep. 28, 2009
Reading Time: 2 minutes More production doesn’t equal more profit I would like to commend you for your excellent opinion column in the September 14 issue (“Same old, same old is not what is needed now). It is refreshing to hear someone challenge the conventional thinking (or lack of) that dominates Alberta and Canadian agriculture policy. You rightly highlight […] Read more
The Most Serious Blunder Of Their Lives
Reading Time: < 1 minute It seems that Prairie farmers’ periodic attraction for U.S. wheat varieties of uncertain quality is not a recent phenomenon. This item appeared in the January 1886 issue of the Nor-West Farmer. The Northwestern Miller in a recent editorial says: it may be sad news to the London miller that a large number of Manitoba farmers […] Read more
World Loses Its Leading Hunger Fighter
Reading Time: 4 minutes CIMMYT joins with members of the international development community to mourn the passing of Nobel Peace Laureate and renowned wheat scientist, Norman E. Borlaug, who died Sept. 12 at the age of 95 from complications from cancer, after an exemplary life dedicated to fighting hunger in developing countries. Borlaug worked as a CIMMYT (International Wheat […] Read more
Preserving The Wheat Midge-Tolerance Trait
Reading Time: 3 minutes Limits are going to be placed on farmers saving their own wheat as seed. For farmers who are cynical, and we tend to be a cynical bunch sometimes, this will sound like a money grab. In this case, there’s an important reason. It’s an attempt to preserve the value of new wheat varieties that have […] Read more
Same Old, Same Old Is Not What Is Needed Now
Reading Time: 3 minutes It borders on reckless stupidity for any government to actually consider dismantling a system that has seen poultry and dairy production being the most stable and most profitable sector of Canadian agriculture for the past 40 years. Recently the Western Centre for Economic Research, a think tank at the University of Alberta, released a document […] Read more
Alberta Farm Boy Remembers The Crow
Reading Time: 3 minutes Leaping tall buildings in a single bound at the same time as ensuring world peace may have been easier. A few years ago CBC’s “As it Happens” radio show host introduced a political panel on federal-provincial equalization with the question “Now that the Crow’s Nest rate is no longer an issue, is equalization destined to […] Read more
Sleight-Of-Hand Tricks On Analyzing Prairie Feed Values
Reading Time: 3 minutes All of this would make sense except for some small overlooked details. The dog days of summer are upon us, and with the last remnants of the small-town fairs still in the air, we’re left with fond memories of the circus clowns and second-rate magicians. Disappearing people, never-ending hankies, magic wands that go limp, and […] Read more
Food Safety Process Has Political Overtones
Reading Time: 3 minutes “Food plant operators usually do their best to avoid health issues, as it is not in their best interest to kill their customers.” Consumers and the Canadian food production system have been well served by independent investigator Sheila Weatherill’s report into the 2008 listeriosis outbreak at Maple Leaf Foods. Her report tactfully spreads around the […] Read more