Nothing in farming is simple any more — if it ever was. There have been times, though, when choosing herbicide wasn’t quite so difficult. If you were growing Roundup Ready canola, for instance, you chose Roundup. Simple. Unfortunately, doing things the easy way is coming back to haunt us, in the form of herbicide resistance. […] Read more
Stories by Joanne Paulson
Barry Wilson’s unique insight will be missed
This is the last edition of The Western Producer that will contain content from Barry Wilson. As I write this, it is Barry’s final day of work (at least at The WP) before his retirement. While I have thought about this day more or less constantly over the last four months, I didn’t realize how […] Read more
Liven up your Saturdays with WPTV
Pour yourself a cup of coffee, settle into a comfy chair in front of your computer and tune in to WPTV. As most of you know by now, The Western Producer’s print journalists are taking a leap into broadcast journalism online. It’s a bit of a new world for us, but old dogs (sorry, staff) […] Read more
Look at canola, cackling cow — and costly bull
Debate was lively last week over the Canola Council of Canada’s change of heart on canola rotations, which, the council says, can be a one-in-two year proposition for some farmers. Our headline on the story, Shorter canola rotations said OK, was de-clared inflammatory and inaccurate by some in the Twitter universe. I would argue it […] Read more
Dealing with the shivers, inside and out
Well, so much for full protection from the flu shot. I behaved myself, looking into a busy winter season, and hustled down to my doctor’s office for a flu shot in early November. Until last week, I was merrily sailing through the polar vortex in the arrogant thinking that I would not get sick. So […] Read more
Innovation needs innovative plan
“Taking so much out of Agri-Stability and AgriInvest and investing so little of that back into innovation does not send a strong signal that governments are serious about innovation.” — Ron Bonnett, president, Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Sept. 28, 2012 WP Who gave that man a crystal ball? Well over a year ago, Ron Bonnett […] Read more
Wyse words and their implications
It is not possible to attend a farm show or ag conference without hearing that the Earth’s population is going to blow well past nine billion by 2050. That staggering number has driven much of the excitement around agriculture over the last four years — ever since the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization presented […] Read more
This is 90 years of your history
For 90 years, the Producer has chronicled the politics, policies, advancements, crop prices, land prices, livestock prices, weather events and harvests of the Prairies’ most dominant industry. Agriculture was the first economic driver in these parts, and despite terrible droughts, untimely rains and early frosts, it remains a vital part of not only our financial […] Read more
Year brought many changes and kudos
Christmas, I always find, is a time for reflection and thanksgiving more than Thanks-giving. Looking back, it has been a madly busy year at The Western Producer. In May, we began creating original videos to complement our online offerings, and they have been well received (thank you, viewers.) To achieve this, we hired Robin Booker, […] Read more
Expressing view on worthwhile issue effective
Gilles Eric Seralini’s article on his study that purportedly found high mortality among rats exposed to glyphosate and genetically modified corn came close to making his name a household word. The article, published in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, went viral and since November 2012 has been a focal point for the debate swirling […] Read more
