Tracy Tjaden

Everybody’s high on hemp these days, says Warren Ellis. It’s being billed as the latest no hassle, high paying crop and producers are scrambling to find out how to get a licence to start growing it. But when something seems too good to be true, it usually is, said Ellis, who’s grown five-acre hemp research […] Read more

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. – British Columbia’s revolutionary farm protection laws are often touted in farming circles for protecting producers from being sued for making a stink. But the first local government to trigger the new legislation said it’s not all coming up roses. “It’s well known that there are more city slickers than farmers out here […] Read more

The spinoffs from Maple Leaf’s announcement to build a $112 million hog processing plant in Brandon are already starting to swirl. Last month, officials from Vall Corporation, a Spanish livestock investment company, toured southwestern Manitoba to check out potential sites for a proposal that could inject $100 million into the region. “Considering we hardly have […] Read more

The Saskatchewan farmer challenging the constitutionality of the Canadian Wheat Board Act says a victory in his favor would immediately topple the grain agency’s monopoly. Dave Bryan’s case is to start in Winnipeg Feb. 9. He is charged with four counts under the Customs Act for trucking 1,000 bushels of barley across the border without […] Read more

Canamera Foods appeared in a Winnipeg courtroom Dec. 17 on charges that the canola crushing company’s failure to follow Canada Labor Code standards resulted in an accident that claimed the lives of two employees last November. David Schroeder, 55, of Horndean and Jim Friesen, 23, of Altona, suffocated in a rail tanker at Canamera’s Altona, […] Read more

ALDERGROVE, B.C. – In the greenhouse business, you’ve got to be big to survive. The same rule applies to the parasites that prey on greenhouse veggies, and it’s the basic thrust of biological pest control, the greenhouse vegetable producer’s alternative to pesticides. “When you get hit by the bad bugs, you’ve got to get the […] Read more

DELTA, B.C. – Mike Guichon’s weathered pick-up drones past the mucky potato fields in British Columbia’s Fraser River delta with the same washed-out spirit that trickles through the spud grower’s swampy tone. “The guy that farms these fields you’re looking at isn’t going to make it,” said Guichon, 58, pointing out the window of the […] Read more

ALDERGROVE, B.C. – Growing starter tomatoes to sell to other greenhouses falls under the heading of agriculture, but has few similarities to the typical struggles of an average farmer, admits the head of British Columbia’s greenhouse growers’ association. “We prefer to call it controlled farming,” said Mark Kurschner, general manager of Western Greenhouse Growers’ Society. […] Read more

Kleckner reappointed Dean Kleckner, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, has been reappointed by United States president Bill Clinton to serve on the advisory committee for trade policy and negotiations. The committee gives advice on U.S. trade matters, particularly trade objectives and agreements. Kleckner is a corn, soybean and pork producer from Rudd, Iowa, […] Read more

There’s new help out there for rural councillors saddled with the daunting task of evaluating intensive livestock proposals. And they’re going to need it, said one of the advocates. “We attended some of the conditional use hearings on hog barns around here and found the process usually divides communities,” said Don Allan, head of the […] Read more