Consumers are hungry for information and the best way to get to them is to talk about shared values, says Crystal Mackay, executive director of Farm and Food Care.

‘Start with your heart’ in order to win the trust of consumers

People want the facts on how their food is produced, but they 
want them from sources they know and trust, says expert

Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s better to talk about the shared values that you have with a consumer than to start spouting facts. “We are not going to advertise our way to public trust,” Crystal Mackay of Guelph-based Farm and Food Care told an audience of ranchers, food executives and beef industry officials at the Global Conference on Sustainable […] Read more

Rod Bradshaw, pictured here in a carrot field with his wife Shelley and his sons Kurt and Brent, runs Beck Farms.

Low dollar won’t necessarily make 2016 a banner year for local produce

Cash-strapped produce consumers may go for ‘most bang for their buck’ in beleaguered Albertan economy

Reading Time: 3 minutes Some might think the low Canadian dollar might make 2016 a good year for local produce growers. Not necessarily, say two experts in the field. “The talk I’ve heard is that high food costs will normalize farmers’ markets or direct-market sales. These might have cost a little bit more before. Our cost of production is […] Read more


Tech companies charting a new food trend

Amazon, Uber, and Google are hoping to make billions 
by becoming middlemen in the food business


Reading Time: 3 minutes Uber Eats is not a giant meal that you serve your teenager. It is a service to deliver food to urban dwellers in a hurry through the Uber system of loosely collected, non-taxi drivers. It is just one of the companies, along with Amazon and Google, that are in the food business. Google in food? […] Read more

man and woman in grocery store

Constant change is the only sure thing in the food business

The environment was once the big thing, but then came animal welfare, local, gluten free, additives, food safety and more

Reading Time: 4 minutes The ‘mobile global food table’ is a phrase I use to capture the constant shift in consumer trends and food demand. I picture it as a round table without edges that can be placed indoors or out. Sometimes there are chairs and sometimes there are chopsticks. Always there is change. I’ve taken notes over the […] Read more