Barry Wilson

The science is in on the BSE file, and it affirms to the extent possible that Canada’s cattle and beef industry has been brought to its knees by one Alberta cow infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Let the international politics begin. “It is clear what we have encountered is not an epidemic of BSE,” Canadian […] Read more

Manitoba grain farmer and feedlot operator Calvin Vaags figured he had done everything right this year. He made good stock purchase decisions, negotiated good sales contracts and even planted a grain crop with prospects for an above-average harvest. May 20 changed all that. The sales contracts for May 26 were cancelled when the border closed […] Read more

The Canadian government is planning to ban the use of some high-risk animal tissues in the production of human food and animal feed, a senior official from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said June 30. Acting CFIA vice-president Robert Carberry told a parliamentary committee that Canada will heed a recommendation from an expert panel, suggesting […] Read more

The European Union has decided to dramatically revise its farm support policy, maintaining high subsidy levels but tying them to farm existence rather than production. The move away from production-related subsidies was hailed as a reform that could breathe new life into stalled World Trade Organization agriculture negotiations. “This decision marks the beginning of a […] Read more

The new deputy leader of the Canadian Alliance decided to run in the 2000 federal election because she was tired of watching Saskatchewan farm kids leave the farm and the province. In particular, elk and bison farmer Carol Skelton from Harris, Sask., was upset that her own three children were giving up on farming. “What […] Read more

More than four years ago, a team of Health Canada employees concerned about transmissible spongiform encephalopathy issues worried that Canada’s 1997 ban on feeding ruminant protein to ruminants might not provide enough protection. According to minutes of a Sept. 23, 1998 conference call among the department’s team, there was discussion of a scientific study that […] Read more

Just 53 percent of western Canadian farmers have a “positive” opinion of non-supply management marketing boards such as the Canadian Wheat Board, a national survey of farmer opinions has found. Their opinions are divided between those in and those out of supply management. Farmers outside the protected supply managed system are evenly split in their […] Read more

Like most observers of the farm sector, Greg Stewart hears tales of woe, fears about the future and worries about low incomes and eroding assets. But when he goes about his work as senior vice-president of national lending operations at Farm Credit Canada, that is not the picture of agriculture he sees. “Things are better […] Read more

Canadian farmers are not yet aware that climate change will force them to adapt, says a report from the Senate agriculture committee. The report Climate Change: We Are At Risk was tabled in the Senate June 18 after months of hearings. Committee chair Donald Oliver said in an interview the committee will be making recommendations […] Read more

The European Union last week defied its critics by insisting its restrictions on imports of genetically modified crops and foods are justified by international trade rules. The United States and Argentina, supported by Canada and some other countries, have insisted the EU’s restrictions on licensing new GM varieties are an illegal trade barrier. They have […] Read more