Global productivity in agriculture production continues to grow healthily, but not yet fast enough to feed the expected 10 billion people on the planet by 2050. That’s according to the 2019 Global Agriculture Productivity (GAP) Report, recently released by Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The report says that agriculture productivity is increasing at an average […] Read more
Opinion
Must Reads
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Late harvest is an effort in struggle
Combining late in the fall sucks. You work harder and harder for diminishing returns. This hit home the other day…
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Prime minister must deal with western alienation
The ripples emanating from federal election results have grown into waves of western Canadian separatism. It’s early days since the…
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Goodale’s loss silences western farm voice at cabinet table
A few weeks before the election, I was having a coffee in Ottawa with someone who advocates for a growers’…
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There is a positive side to this gloomy crop year
Crops worth billions of dollars remain in the field as we head into November. Even producers who managed to finish…
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Agriculture faces a heart transplant
If government and private estimates are accurate, hundreds of millions of American farm acres will have new owners in the…
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Canada needs to consider tougher approach to trade
Should Canada stop being nice when it comes to agricultural trade? That seems to be the gist of October’s policy…
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Stories from our other publications
Producers must have a say in seed research dollars
If more private investment is needed to develop seed varieties, the two models proposed by Agriculture Canada are not going to work. In reality, we have to wonder if the federal government has lost its drive to do this, given the intense resistance by producers to the process so far, and frankly — given the […] Read more
Farm group vows to work with gov’t
I am a western Canadian. I was born in Winnipeg, and have lived in Alberta for more than 20 years. I now live and work in Ottawa — and right now, it is a complicated place to be. In the aftermath of the Oct. 21 federal election, the Conservatives hold every riding in Alberta and […] Read more
Late harvest is an effort in struggle
Combining late in the fall sucks. You work harder and harder for diminishing returns. This hit home the other day when I went to clean the combine windows, normally a routine task. We keep a squeegee in a 20-litre pail filled to about one-third with water. The squeegee handle protrudes through the hole in the […] Read more
Greens should reconsider ag policy
So, the Green Party’s Elizabeth May has stepped down as leader. She will continue on as a member of Parliament – she even plans to run again – but her tenure as leader, which met with mixed success, is over. While May is much admired in Canada, it’s to be hoped that her successor will […] Read more
Letters to the editor – November 7, 2019
Alberta MLAs’ salaries should be reduced Re: “Better pay for MLAs would improve quality of candidates,” (WP, Oct. 24). It must be some sort of tradition that shortly after every provincial election MLA’s salaries make it to the top of the political radar screen. And voters start to wonder how much MLAs make, plus what […] Read more
Family involvement improves continuity on the farm
Without a doubt, one of the most transformative times for any family is the growth of the family tree. At its best, it’s a time for celebration by adding a new daughter or son, step-parent or sibling. At its worst, it’s a time of upheaval and mistrust that leaves the family in shambles. Now, overlay […] 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
Prime minister must deal with western alienation
The ripples emanating from federal election results have grown into waves of western Canadian separatism. It’s early days since the vote that saw Conservatives win the popular vote and paint all of Saskatchewan, almost all of Alberta and major portions of British Columbia and Manitoba Tory blue. It has given impetus to the burgeoning “Wexit” […] Read more
Goodale’s loss silences western farm voice at cabinet table
A few weeks before the election, I was having a coffee in Ottawa with someone who advocates for a growers’ group. She apologized for coming solo, telling me the person who was supposed to join her couldn’t make it. That was because her colleague had flown to Regina for a meeting with Ralph Goodale. It […] Read more
