Reading Time: 3 minutes My hometown is Stony Plain. It is a great town, progressive, beautiful and welcoming: A place that honours the past and has no fear of the future. I love to go back to visit with my family and friends. I can stand in one spot for hours and simply talk to folks as they pass […] Read more
Preserving highly productive soil is critical for tomorrow
In my hometown, across the province and around the world, top-quality soil is being lost to development
Maple Leaf lands ‘sustainability-linked’ credit
Canadian food processor Maple Leaf Foods is taking its recently-established sustainability cred to the bank. The Toronto food firm announced Wednesday it’s the first Canadian company to secure “sustainability-linked terms” for its credit facilities. Specifically, the company has picked up an unsecured committed revolving line of credit and two unsecured committed term facilities for a […] Read more
Election 2019: Ag groups want the parties to pay attention
MarketsFarm — Two major national farm organizations want the political parties to pay more attention to agriculture as the federal election continues. However, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) and the National Farmers Union (NFU) have somewhat different takes as to what they see as paramount. “It’s really important that we uphold the quality of […] Read more
Food, farming not expected to be big election issues
Canadians don’t think that food and agriculture will be a significant issue in the current federal election. A survey conducted Sept. 9 and released Tuesday by Angus Reid Global with the support of Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab shows 31 per cent of Canadians believe food and agriculture will be a prime electoral issue during […] Read more
UN flags need to reduce meat consumption to curb land use impact on global warming
London/Geneva | Reuters — Global meat consumption must fall to curb global warming, reduce growing strains on land and water and improve food security, health and biodiversity, a United Nations report on the effects of climate change concluded. Although the report stopped short of explicitly advocating going meat-free, it called for big changes to farming […] Read more
Drive Away Hunger campaign underway
Reading Time: < 1 minute Donations of cash and food are now being accepted at Farm Credit Canada offices for this year’s Drive Away Hunger campaign. The initiative supports meal programs in 100 schools across the country and since its inception, has provided more than 50 million meals. According to Food Banks Canada, more than four million Canadians — both […] Read more
We need all sorts of farms to preserve the culture of agriculture
Many would love to be seeding right now but they can only dream of being a farmer
Reading Time: 3 minutes It is time to be in the fields; to sow what will soon be an abundant Canadian harvest. I love the fact that I can still identify the make of an engine by the sound and I never get over the thrill of hearing the first piece of equipment rumble down a country road en […] Read more
North Korea faces food crisis after poor harvest, UN says
Geneva | Reuters — Four in 10 North Koreans are chronically short of food and further cuts to already minimal rations are expected after the worst harvest in a decade, the United Nations said on Friday. Official rations are down to 300 grams (10.6 ounces) per person per day, the lowest ever for this time […] Read more
Viewing the importance of farming through a different lens
Studying global leadership gave me a new appreciation of how agriculture underpins everything
Reading Time: 3 minutes I am writing to you in this column sporting my new credentials: master of arts in global leadership. And through it all, I never left agriculture. In fact, it was agriculture that gave me the depth and breadth of experience for interesting dialogue and the completion of many papers based on food production and food […] Read more
The new food guide can be an opportunity for the ag sector
Instead of being on the defensive, why not take a more constructive and educational approach?
Reading Time: 3 minutes I read with dismay that British grocer giant Tesco was cutting more jobs in its grocery stores from the fresh counter and replacing those employees with vending machines. I thought about how that put another league of distance between people and their food. Is it any wonder farmers feel there is such disconnect with the […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
