Diane Rogers

It is not just anybody who gets a rose named after them. But as the instigator of several social action movements, Adelaide Hoodless received the honour. The red-flowered, hardy shrub rose bred at Agriculture Canada’s research centre at Morden, Man., was introduced in 1973 as a tribute to the founder of the Women’s Institute on […] Read more

Norman and Laura Shoemaker of Mossbank, Sask., were one of two couples named as Canada’s 2007 Outstanding Young Farmer Dec. 7. Also receiving the award at the St. Hyacinthe, Que., event were Harry and Leony Koelen of Paisley, Ont. Shoemaker Agro Inc. is a grain and pedigreed seed operation working more than 5,000 acres. The […] Read more

Although farmers work with agricultural chemicals, they probably share the same misconceptions about pesticides as the general public holds. Donna Houghton, who works for chemical maker Syngenta in Guelph, Ont., outlined some of those mistaken beliefs to the Women’s Fall Focus conference held in Camrose, Alta., last month. _____ CORRECTION _____ A story on page […] Read more

The most dangerous time to be on a farm is when people are younger than 20 and older than 60. A comparison of the data gathered by the Canadian Agricultural Injury Surveillance Program (CAISP) shows young people were involved in 17.4 percent of agricultural fatalities and seniors 34.6 percent, for a total of 52 percent. […] Read more

It was a modest fundraising proposal that required some immodesty, but the calendar produced by the Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada featuring its members seems destined for success. Some of the women in the photographs “are more dressed than others,” said FWIC executive director Barb Sheardon, but no province balked at presenting a photo of […] Read more

BROCK, Sask. – Sue Speir wants anyone who is injured to know that it is not the end of the world. She loves the outdoors and despite being in a wheelchair is determined to maintain her lifestyle. She moves quickly, rolling around her farm home near Brock in west-central Saskatchewan and transferring herself to a […] Read more

Mary and Andrew Irwin of Fahler, Alta., are part of a million-person statistic. More than one million Canadians work from their homes, according to census figures from Statistics Canada – eight percent of the workforce. For the Irwins, it was a case of necessity. Their grain farm wasn’t earning enough money to pay the bills. […] Read more

VERMILION, Alta. – If there is no curling club in town, then it’s probably dying. Curling clubs are a “vibrant dynamic force” that serve as social hubs, says Heather Mair, a professor at Ontario’s University of Waterloo in the department of recreation and leisure studies. Mair and graduate student Dawn Trussell began studying curling clubs […] Read more

VERMILION, Alta. – Young people leaving the farm is part of a normal phenomenon, says a Quebec academic. Patrice Leblanc of the Universite du Quebec en Abitibi-Temisicamingue has found two reasons why rural youth leave: Modern society is mobile and people travel more than in the past. Moving from their hometown is a traditional way […] Read more

The Moon Rocket was a familiar sight at tractor pulling competitions across the Prairies in the 1970s and 1980s. When it went on the auction block at a farm sale last year, it could have gone anywhere. Instead, it was bought by the daughters of the man who drove it – Fred Summach of Asquith, […] Read more