The American government has offered its farmers about the same amount in commodities grain assistance, due to trade issues with China, as is the size of Canada’s grains and oilseeds sector. So far the United States federal administration has put in place US$28 billion, and paid out $8.6 to compensate its farmers. The American business […] Read more
Opinion — page 2
Sino-American fight hurts
Scenes from the field reveal the nature of farmers
A large, powerful jackrabbit is bounding through the pea crop in front of the combine. His hiding place has been disturbed by the harvest operation, but he’s afraid to leave the cover provided by the thick peas. Outside of the crop, he’d be nimble and fast. Within the peas he struggles, the vines slowing his […] Read more
Letters to the editor – August 15, 2019
Trusted voices in Canada’s food system We read with great interest, Mike Raine’s piece in a recent edition of The Western Producer where he asked, “Who are the credible sources in agriculture?” What Raine highlighted, articulates the challenges Canada’s food system faces in the media when “minority-position, generally anti-science speakers” make themselves available to speak […] Read more
Case made against marketing boards
Sometimes political parties forget that they exist to improve and enhance the lives of the Canadians who vote for them. So it made me happy to see the federal Conservatives pressuring the Liberal government to let us know what a carbon tax would cost the average Canadian household. But Conservative concern over the cost of […] Read more
Regional crop tour — global attention
Whether in the newspaper or on producer.com, it would have been hard to miss our coverage of the crop tour held by FarmLink Solutions this past week. At The Western Producer, we believe strongly in the value of knowing. Just as we are big believers in remote sensing, ground truthing proves what we believe to […] Read more
USDA under fire for new attack on domestic food aid program
You know it’s going to be a long, hot summer if, on the day before you assume the political leadership of the United Kingdom — as Boris Johnson did on July 23 — one of the world’s most authoritative newspapers, the New York Times, prints a column that begins with the phrase, “Boris Johnson, to […] Read more
Senate lays groundwork for value-added efforts
Observers of Canada’s Senate have noted in the past that while the politics can be awkward, there is a lot of good work done at the committee level. And so it is with the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, which has produced a useful report on the future of Canada’s agriculture. The report […] Read more
Letters to the editor – August 8, 2019
Be a good employer Sadly, some farmer are poor employers. A friend works on a dairy farm in Alberta and is given no extra pay for working on Christmas day, etc. He was not covered by insurance until Bill 6 came into effect. Now (Alberta Premier Jason) Kenney wants to repeal that and exempt farms […] Read more
Have you ever considered an equity partner?
Want to expand your farm for the next generation? Want to buy out some of your landlords? Want to work your way out of a difficult financial situation? A Canadian company called Area One Farms partners with producers to meet these sorts of objectives. The company has relied on word-of-mouth advertising and even though it […] Read more
Tracking how farmers spend their time can be challenging
Haven’t we all asked the question, where does the time go? I had a meeting at a farm this week, arriving around 3:30 in the afternoon. As we were settling in for our discussion, one of the family members commented that it was already mid-afternoon and she hadn’t been able to get to any of […] Read more
