Some of the most intense discussions on The Western Producer’s website in recent months have centred on neonicotinoids and genetically modified food. But did these stories make the Top 10 of our online views? Our statistics cover only the second half of the year, but here they are:
10. Alberta farm to star in Rick Mercer Report. The story detailed some of the comedian’s 10 hours of filming on the Round Hill, Alta., farm of the Banack family.
9. Lack of capital to blame: Broadacre. Gerry Pike, one of Broadacre Agriculture’s founders, explained in November how the company didn’t have enough money to expand quickly enough to survive.
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8. Roundup Ready in alfalfa exports ‘catastrophic.’ The story explained that China has zero tolerance for modified alfalfa.
7. Costco asks producers: where’s the beef? The retail giant explained that it was forced to buy foreign meat because there wasn’t enough AAA grade produced in Canada.
6. Farmers lash out against Ducks Unlimited drainage ads. The organization’s radio advertisements suggested that farm drainage contributed to flooding in Melville, Sask., prompting farmers to take to social media to rain down anger on the assertion.
5. Seeder’s reach stretches 160 feet. This story on Multi Farming Systems’ big new machine was placed online in June, but it remained a hot read well into the year.
4. Broadacre Agriculture enters creditor protection. The original story on the demise of the company that controlled 65,000 acres of Saskatchewan farmland informed readers of the company’s $46 million in debts.
3 and 2. Tragedy on the farm. A story about the death of two boys, Sean Arnal, 16, and his brother Lyndon, 10 who died in a farm accident near Ravenscrag, and a follow-up story on a bursary for young farmers to be established in their name, and in the name of their brother, Blake, who died in 2008 at the age of 14 in an all-terrain vehicle accident. The strength and dignity of the family and their determination to carry on while honouring their children caught the imagination of our readers.
1. Exploding combine shocks Sask. farmers. The story and dramatic image of a combine in flames on the Zimmer family’s farm near Major, Sask., was by far the top-read item on our website in the last half of 2014.
Contact brian.macleod@producer.com
