Reading Time: 3 minutes As agriculture faces acute shortages of people at every level, it is a good time to talk about the value in immigration. The federal government has committed to increasing the number of immigrants to 350,000 annually by 2021. What does that mean for Canada? The majority of immigrants currently come from three countries: China, India […] Read more
Opinion: We need to welcome our new Canadian neighbours
To fill the tens of thousands of jobs in agriculture, we must make the sector more attractive to immigrants
Many sources of greenhouse gases are being ignored
Agriculture is singled out while major contributors receive little or no attention in climate change debate
Reading Time: 3 minutes As the discussion on climate change heats up, I find myself defaulting to facts that may surprise you. Climate change is not a new phenomenon. The definition is basically changes in wind patterns, temperature and precipitation that stretches over several decades. With that definition in mind, climate change has been an ongoing challenge for farmers […] Read more
What’s in the engine room of your farm business?
It’s not just the physical assets that power your enterprise and keep it moving forward
Reading Time: 3 minutes My friend Claire Booth from Australia shared a photo of her farm office referring to it as the “engine room” of their business. I like that analogy and am conscious of the fact that we all run with an engine and without that source of power or way of moving forward, we stay in one […] Read more
It’s tough to stand out in the world of commodities
Producing the best beef or grain doesn’t mean your product will be recognized for its quality
Reading Time: 3 minutes Having a point of differentiation is really important when it comes to commodities. Let us start with the term ‘beef.’ You may have been in conversations where someone said, they don’t eat beef — they eat old dairy cows. Which is interesting because technically, those old dairy cows and the Alberta bred fancy show steer […] Read more
When we rush to help, we can put ourselves at risk
When livestock get into trouble, we need to consider how quickly a rescue mission can go wrong
Reading Time: 3 minutes The abundance of new life on the farm at this time of the year leads to a lot of antics on the part of animals. It is wonderful to watch the babies get busy with play we call ‘horsing around.’ Calves and foals are romping, the first chicks are peeping, the piglets are squealing. Big […] 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
It’s as Canadian as peanut butter? Fascinating food facts
Whether born out of curiosity or necessity, this country has a rich history in creating new foods
Reading Time: 3 minutes When we think of a Canadian meal, we think of beef, pork, lamb, chicken, milk, and all the fixings. Spring is here and the BBQ has likely been dusted off to welcome these old flames to our weary winter palate. As Canadians, we set the table with favourites such as lasagna, burgers of every description, […] 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
An unintended consequence of cannabis legalization
The money in cannabis has made it a highly attractive alternative to greenhouse plant propagators
Reading Time: 3 minutes When the Government of Canada changed the Criminal Code and legalized cannabis, it raised very few eyebrows in the agricultural community. It was debated as a crop on all levels and later recognized as an agricultural product. Where it was grown and by whom was left to other jurisdictions. It was viewed as an opportunity […] 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
