Quebec’s incumbent agriculture, food and fisheries minister will be returning to the province’s legislature as part of an even larger government caucus. Preliminary results in Monday’s provincial election put Francois Legault’s Coalition avenir Quebec (CAQ) in a solid majority government position with 90 of 125 seats, followed by Dominique Anglade’s Liberals, remaining in official opposition […] Read more
Quebec ag minister cruises to re-election
Legault's CAQ scores bigger second majority
Ford, GM upgrade their heavy-duty pickup profit machines
New features aimed at business productivity
Detroit | Reuters — Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday took the wraps off the latest version of its Super Duty pickup, providing a look at how the U.S. automaker will manage one of the biggest challenges confronting Detroit. The problem: How to modernize the largest combustion pickups to keep demand strong and profits flowing, without […] Read more
Time to clean the plastic out of your shed
Reading Time: < 1 minute Producers in the northern half of Alberta can drop off old livestock/equine medications as well as unwanted agricultural pesticides next month. Cleanfarms partners with the Canadian Animal Health Institute for livestock/equine medications, which need to have a DIN number, serial number, notification number or Pest Control Product number on the label. One-day collections will take […] Read more
Wildlife compensation program now covers damage by wild boars
Reading Time: < 1 minute The growing threat of wild boars in Alberta has prompted Agriculture Financial Services Corporation to include the invasive species in its Wildlife Damage Compensation Program. “The program will compensate producers for wild boar damage to eligible unharvested hay crops and eligible annual unharvested crops, wildlife-excreta contaminated crops, stacked greenfeed and silage in pits and tubes,” […] Read more
Cattle group hopes to round up a full slate of candidates
Being a delegate isn’t time-consuming and puts you at ‘ground zero’ in the cattle sector, says chair
Reading Time: 3 minutes If you reform it, will they come? That’s a question facing Alberta Beef Producers as it heads into delegate election season. The farm group is seeking four people to run in each of its five zones, a smaller figure than before a revamp two years ago that reduced the number of zones and delegates. “Part […] Read more
Wild horses face unruly storms as Fiona nears East Coast
Damages feared to buildings, utilities, crops
Ottawa | Reuters — Shaggy, long-maned wild horses grazing freely on the sandy grasslands of the crescent-shaped Sable Island in the North Atlantic are expected to come under the swipe of a powerful storm forecast to hit Eastern Canada this weekend. Hurricane Fiona, tracking northward after carving a destructive path through the Dominican Republic and […] Read more
Opinion: The path to reconciliation can start by reading some good books
There is some excellent fiction and non-fiction that opens the door to history — and understanding
Reading Time: 3 minutes Sept. 30 marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a day meant to honour the children who never returned home and the survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities. Many people haven’t learned the history of residential schools because it wasn’t part of school curricula until recently and was seldom […] Read more
One-third of China’s land protected under ecological ‘red line’ scheme
Authorities crack down on farm encroachment
Shanghai | Reuters — Nearly a third of China’s land is now off-limits to development under a scheme known as the “ecological protection red line,” a senior official said at a news briefing on Monday, bringing the country in accord with global biodiversity targets. China first proposed its “red line” scheme in 2011 to put […] Read more
Opinion: Canada’s disappearing ‘average farmer’
Agricultural policy used to be aimed at the middle — but what if the middle is missing?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Canada’s agriculture industry has been undergoing significant changes over the past 45 years. Since the 1970s, the number of farms has been steadily declining, but not all farms have been impacted equally — mid-size farms have been hit the hardest, as the number of small and large farms increases. The mid-size farm category used to […] Read more
Schoepp: Times have changed, and so must the way you treat employees
A living wage is important but there are other things that today’s workers expect from employers
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s crunch time as the harvest begins and farmers scramble for the help they need. A lot has changed on farms in the last decade as the baby boomers retire and are replaced by millennials and Gen Z. These generations have nurtured a different set of values and ethics. There has never been such a […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
