There’s a golden opportunity in front of Western Canada, but plant protein processing potential could pop up somewhere else if prairie people don’t grab it. That was a message threaded through a number of presentations made by grain, food and logistics experts speaking at the Fields on Wheels conference Nov. 1. “There is opportunity. We […] Read more
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Duration risk becomes major problem for many farmers
“It’s not the down-cycle years that do farms in; it’s those boom years.” That wise comment was tweeted to me by intelliFARM analyst Brian Voth in an online discussion I was having about the sour mood across Canada today. That sour mood extends deep into farming, where years of lacklustre returns combined with challenging (to […] Read more
Protein highway forges connections
An initiative gathers steam to bring agricultural and engineering research together to improve plant protein processing
SASKATOON — Hundreds of students cross the bridge between the engineering and agriculture buildings every day, heading to cafeterias, offices and parking lots. It’s a pedestrian highway connecting part of the sprawling and populous campus, joining two of the University of Saskatchewan’s highest-profile faculties. But that pathway is much quieter when it comes to researchers […] Read more
Plant-based ingredients on the eve of a breakthrough
Plant protein products could be on the cusp of major success as new entries into the marketplace receive widespread public acceptance
SASKATOON — It takes a lot of commitment to spend decades working on research that might never lead to much. It also takes a lot of commitment to spend farmers’ money for decades knowing that it might not lead to real gains. Dedicated scientists and researchers did the former. And far-sighted farmers did the latter, […] Read more
With Canada-China relations, how did things ever get so far?
An opportunity for China to calm down things with Canada?
How did things ever get so far? I’m hoping somebody high up in the Chinese government is thinking that today, as its relationships with multiple countries are strained and have suffered considerable damage in the last couple of years. Canada is not the least of those strained relationships and deepening bad blood, with two Canadian […] Read more
End of commodity boom real reason for national anger
There’s an ugly feeling across Canada, apparent in the federal election and its results, but long-simmering beforehand. Politicians have been horrible to each other. But so too have millions of Canadian citizens, these days often portraying each other as enemies rather than as fellow citizens with differing views. This is particularly true on social media, […] Read more
VIDEO: Man. funds first projects in conservation program
The Growing Outcomes in Watersheds program pays money toward ongoing environmental protection projects in agricultural areas
GLEN LEA, Man. — After so many years of hoping, conservation-minded farmers are on the cusp of seeing themselves being rewarded for being good stewards. While there have been many conservation projects and environmental programs that farmers have participated in, the roll-out of permanent funding for some farmer efforts is a joy for some to […] Read moreCanada talks trade with China at WTO
Canada and China are talking, and that’s a good thing for hopes of reopening the giant market. That’s the feeling of Brian Innes, Canola Council of Canada vice-president for public affairs, who is in Geneva, Switzerland, to observe the two countries’ “consultation” over China’s ban on canola imports from Canada. “We’ve seen good dialogue today […] Read more
Canada must get serious about increasing trade with Asia
Whoever won the federal election (I’m writing this before the results are in), there will be no time for a victory lap or a long, defeated sobbing episode, at least for the International trade and foreign affairs ministers, old and maybe new. Canada has a tiny window of opportunity to try to defend some new […] Read more
Life in the afterglow of the commodity boom: Is this why we’re all so mad and raging?
Everybody wants somebody to blame. Better blame Mr CommoditiesCycle
It’s a truly dark time in Canada, with the rise of an angry, raging, denunciatory politics taking over this nation the way that it has been doing in the U.S. for a few years now. The federal election supplied ample evidence of this, with ill will and personal attacks hanging over the entire campaign. Beyond […] Read more
