Today this column shamelessly follows a trend that has appeared in other print media. You’ve seen this phenomenon: lists of interesting numbers that have recently appeared, in some context, in the news. We thought we’d give it a try. 90: Percentage of Alberta households that indicated they had purchased local food within the last 12 […] Read more
Opinion — page 687
News by the numbers – Editorial Notebook
Letters to the editor
Standing together; Sold out; Compatible policy; Seeing good; Begrudging rain?; Toilet seats; Noxious weeds; Thumbs down; Mail service; Send the cheque; CWB losses; Country song; No starvation Standing together The story Feb. 19 on page 81, “Can organic, conventional producers co-exist?” attempts to paint lines in the sand in order to get a good story. […] Read more
Staying in the game when times are tough – The Bottom Line
There are lots of reasons why new businesses fail. Sometimes though, it’s just a case of losing heart and giving up because things haven’t worked out as hoped. When things are stalled in your new farm enterprise, how long do you wait? When do fortitude and determination turn into folly and a blind refusal to […] Read more
March 9, 2009
Yesterday we took our German neighbour, Max, who had a Zambia guidebook, and went in search of the Chimpanzee Orphanage by Chingola. Things were going well until we pulled up to another one of those police checks that frequent the Zambian roads. Usually you can say “muli shani” (how are you) and they wave you […] Read more
Flagging oats
A few weeks ago I wrote a story about the pennant formation that appeared to have formed in the oats futures market. Oats prices had been moving in a narrowing range between highs and lows – roughly $2.10 to $2.40 per bushel on the CBOT – and if it truly was a pennant, then it […] Read more
March 6, 2009
Pastor Phiri, in the faculty meeting at Heart of Africa Mission, discussed why the budget went wrong. “An African doesn’t want another person suffering. If money is for another purpose but someone comes in bitter need, as an African refusing to contribute to a needy situation — it would mean he doesn’t care.” To not […] Read more
March 4, 2009
What a sight: several hundred farmers, mostly women, many with babies on their backs. They’ve come to learn to farm smarter. The headdresses are bright African scarves, except for my friend Lister, who wears a white ball cap from Hunters Motors of Athabasca, Alta. The conservation farming field day drew a huge crowd. Would we […] Read more
March 1, 2009
Vivienne, the woman we gave the fertilizer loan to last week, brought us two butternut squash from her farm. She told me how she went out there Saturday on her day off to top dress her last corn planting. She drove to the highway junction, where a man met her at 4:30 p.m. with his […] Read more
Be ready to launch WTO trade action – WP editorial
CANADA’S World Trade Organization challenge of American country-of-origin labelling legislation is idling at the curb, waiting to be driven. That is more or less the way federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz described the status of the challenge Canada filed last year and then put on hold after early January changes partially addressed Canadian concerns. The […] Read more
CFA sometimes a tough crowd for ag ministers – Opinion
IT WAS A remarkable moment in covering the Canadian Federation of Agriculture meeting in Ottawa where federal ministers feel obligated to appear to explain themselves, defend themselves, take abuse. Almost a decade ago, a clearly tired, stressed and nervous Liberal minister Lyle Vanclief showed up to announce that he had convinced cabinet to spend an […] Read more
