Election day is looming, and a few thoughts about the contenders have been forming in my head: Liberals — A party that focuses on fighting climate change, with the inevitable ambivalence toward fossil fuel, is never going to make many friends in Western Canada. While the Liberals can make a decent case for their actions […] Read more
Author Archives
COVID saga keeps going over the top
Sometimes what looks like a farm story isn’t really a farm story. For the longest time, that’s what I thought was going on with this crazy business of people taking ivermectin to cure COVID. Sure, ivermectin is a common veterinary drug that livestock producers frequently use to control parasites in their animals, and we’ve written […] Read more
Stand united on China, but at what cost?
What the heck are we going to do about China? The country has become increasingly threatening in recent years, especially since Xi Jinping became leader in 2012. But China is not the Soviet Union during the last Cold War. The Soviets may have been a military superpower but they certainly weren’t an economic powerhouse. China’s […] Read more
Mother Nature left the furnace on this summer
It’s been quite the summer. A lack of rain in most parts of the Prairies was definitely not conducive for growing crops and pastures. As one of our editors said last month, “without water, nothing grows.” But the environmental catastrophe facing producers this summer has had two heads. The drought was definitely a major problem, […] Read more
What’s a poor space junkie to think?
Space has been a lifelong passion of mine. I was nine in the summer of 1969 when the first humans walked on the moon. My family watched with friends in town as Neil Armstrong made his giant step, and during the drive back to the farm in the dark, I can remember looking up at […] Read more
Producer beat Hollywoodto the punch
The Western Producer has always prided itself on being cutting edge, and the entertainment business recently reminded us of this fact. The documentary Cow was one of the more unusual entries in this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The film makers spent years documenting the life of Luma the dairy cow on an English farm. The […] Read more
Engagement is great, but be nice about it
The Western Producer’s letters to the editor section was once a bustling place. Pages 12 and 13 were always blocked off for letters with lots left over every week. Sometimes the surplus became so large that we had to find a couple of extra pages in the middle of the paper to ease the overflow. […] Read more
Chronic labour shortages may have a solution
Trucker shortages are a perennial problem in Canada. Steps have been taken over the years, such as educational campaigns to convince prospective employees that driving truck can be a fulfilling career. Governments have also done their part, such as in Alberta, where a program was introduced to ease the cost of training. But a new […] Read more
Let loose in the berry patch with no quotas
I don’t remember doing a lot of berry picking as a kid. I certainly don’t remember receiving strict instructions to come back with full pails — or else. The few foraging expeditions that do stick in my head are remembered as relaxed affairs, but we were still expected to come back with something. These trips […] Read more
Travel’s future may be found in the skies
I wrote a column this winter about the future, focusing on the advancements made in producing meat from cells in a lab rather than from animals on a farm. While moaning about how our expectations for the future had been raised too high while we were kids, I wondered what ever happened to flying cars. […] Read more
