Another grain buyer has left farmers unpaid for grain deliveries. And yet again, some producers will be outside of the timelines required for compensation under the Canadian Grain Commission’s licencing and bonding program. This time it’s Purely Canada Foods with its Saskatchewan facilities in Avonlea, Kindersley and Lajord. Those in the grain trade are not […] Read more
Opinion
Best cookbooks not written by celebrity chefs
A great way to tell a culture’s story is through its food, something that the staff at the Western Development Museum certainly recognizes. A display in the museum’s front entrance focuses not so much on what rural Prairie residents ate over the decades as o n how this culinary knowledge was preserved. Called Cookbook Connections, […] Read more
Where’s the listeria outbreak outrage?
The reaction to the recent Silk and Great Value plant-based dairy recall has been perplexing, to say the least, despite three confirmed deaths now linked to the listeria outbreak. The first fatality occurred back in August 2023, almost a year before the official recall on July 8, 2024. Yet, there has been little public explanation […] Read more
Avian flu in cows and poultry continues to fly high in the U.S.
Few states or nations put on a dairy cattle show like the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin, where 50,000 visitors and vendors from nearly 100 countries will see 1,800 owners exhibiting 2,500 or so of the best dairy cattle in the galaxy. Organizers of this year’s Expo, however, are working overtime to keep one […] Read more
Railway labour dispute raises ‘wicked’ questions
Difficult labour negotiations between the two major railways and their unionized employees have just put the country through the wringer, and tough questions must be asked: Why was the situation allowed to deteriorate to the point where almost the entire rail transportation system was shut down, albeit briefly? Is there a way to avoid messes […] Read more
Letters to the editor – September 5, 2024
Bunge’s merger confidence questioned So Bunge’s Daiana Endruseit believes, “based on what we know, we expect the transaction to be concluded in coming months.” Re: Bunge waits for merger decision, page 3, Aug. 22, issue. Am I the only person who finds this merger proposal comment more than a little disturbing? Is Endruseit a clairvoyant? […] Read more
Incorporating the family farm can have its advantages
More than 25 per cent of all farming operations are incorporated, according to the 2021 Agriculture Census, and of those corporations, 87 per cent are labelled as family corporations. Statistics Canada defines a family corporation as an incorporated business operation in which an individual or members of a family own the majority of the corporation’s […] Read more
Wanted: solution to country’s labour disruptions
In the end, even a Liberal government dedicated to the principle of collective bargaining couldn’t stand by and watch a railway strike/lockout inflict economic havoc across the country. Whether the government has the authority to impose binding arbitration without parliamentary approval is a question to be debated, but the importance of ending the work stoppage […] Read more
Newspaper errors baffle and infuriate
There’s nothing worse for a journalist than to get something wrong. If we’re having trouble sleeping at night, that’s probably what’s doing it. Common garden variety mistakes include misspelled names, bad math and wrong attribution. Sometimes writers can misunderstand what they’re being told and report it wrong in the story. Other times, unclear writing can […] Read more
Disease fight requires multiple fronts
The more you learn about viral and bacterial threats to livestock, the more you wonder how we can effectively protect the sector. Maybe we need to view big disease events as waves rather than singular events — and if we know the next wave is coming, how prepared are we? I asked several people who […] Read more
