The Canada Grain Act and the Canadian Grain Commission are pillars established to serve grain producers. It’s our collective responsibility to ensure that the framework governing grain regulation and oversight prioritizes the interests of the backbone of our industry — farmers. Established in 1912, the Canada Grain Act sets standards for Canada’s grain industry, ensuring […] Read more
Opinion
Spotlight shone on the food barons who dominate ag sector
The first economist, Scotland’s Adam Smith, had it right almost 250 years ago when, as writer Eric Schlosser notes in the foreword of an important new book by Iowan Austin Frerick, “merchants and manufacturers were ‘an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public.’ ” Few groups know […] Read more
Pest control equation becomes more complex
Simple solutions are wonderful, and for decades, pesticides offered simple control of weeds, diseases and insects. Farmers learned to pair biology with chemistry to produce crops resistant to broad spectrum herbicides, allowing cleaner fields with fewer passes of the sprayer. Crops with built-in protection against insects lessened the need for insecticides and spared non-target insects. […] Read more
Feds present time sensitive challenges, new opportunities
When the 2024 federal budget was released in April, there were several notable proposed tax changes that will have direct implications on most Canadians. The first change relates to the capital gains inclusion rate. Since 2001, it has been 50 per cent, which means 50 per cent of a capital gain is tax free and […] Read more
Wet start to growing season bodes well
It’s early in the growing season and it’s impossible to predict the twists and turns of weather patterns in the weeks and months ahead. However, here are some probable outcomes based on the weather and seeding progress. The per cent of average precipitation map for the growing season is a sight to behold. In most […] Read more
Look back at June 6, 2003, issue
For the next year, this column will mark The Western Producer’s 100th anniversary by taking a deep dive every week into a past issue of the paper. The discovery of BSE in an Alberta cow was announced May 20, 2003, and our June 6, 2003, issue was pretty much all BSE, all the time. To […] Read more
Sask. must have better wetland policy
Prairie weather has always tended to extremes, but now climate scientists are telling farmers to expect drier and longer droughts as well as more flooding in the years to come. The challenge of balancing public versus private interest and town versus farm needs will be determined by the quality of our decisions about managing the […] Read more
American agriculture industry excels in playing word games
We in agriculture have a long tradition of marketing our bounty by more pleasant, if not less-than-truthful, names in hopes that less-informed eaters buy the sizzle rather than the fact. For example, the beef checkoff has spent millions urging people to purchase something called flat-iron steak that isn’t steak at all but just a plain […] Read more
It’s prudent to prepare for another flu outbreak
As Canadians warily eye the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak in the U.S. dairy herd, one thing should be certain: watching and waiting isn’t enough. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has taken steps to keep the virus out of the country. It has required negative HPAI test results for lactating dairy cattle imported from […] Read more
Issues loom over hog farmers as they gather in Des Moines
North America’s hog industry is grappling with multiple issues these days, but is presently feeling better than some of the other livestock industries. That doesn’t mean that everything’s great, but not yet having to deal with avian flu infections is keeping hog farmers in a cautiously optimistic mood about their challenges. More World Pork Expo […] Read more
