If you pull out the farmer part, is there anything left? That’s a question that plagues the minds of so many farmers and haunts the dark hours of the night if their farm is in some way “failing.” Drought, debt, a crippling injury, a divorce — all these can cause a farm as a business […] Read more
Tag Archives AgriCULTURE column
Fair offers urbanities a window into Ag.
BRANDON — An aggressively hungry ewe. Newborn chicks flopping and flipping a few minutes after cracking their eggs. Horses clopping down the alleys, hefty-muscled and throwing off that anxious-for-the-ring energy. Fur, straw, boots, company-branded gear, ropes, helmets, and that smell of animals, mini-doughnuts, manure and leather. The agricultural world was in fine display inside the […] Read more
Increase in abandoned dogs is everybody’s problem
The puppy appeared at the farm scared, confused and upset. The farmer, kind-hearted as most, did what he could to calm down the pup, made sure it was safe, then contacted his neighbours to see if anybody had lost a dog. As he suspected, nobody in the community appeared to be short a puppy. It […] Read more
Agriculture sector blessed by researchers’ odd passions
Farmers benefit greatly from the commitment of many experts in odd fields, who work on their research obsessions for years and decades because they think the subjects are fascinating.
Politicians should not be ignored once they are elected
You might not think politicians ever feel lonely, left out of the conversation or ignored. But for many of our elected representatives, that’s the reality. Unless they’re the reeve, a cabinet minister, the premier or the prime minister, they often find themselves without their hands on the levers of supreme power and also wondering what […] Read more
Do we still make a fuss about women in leadership roles?
When is a historical first not a big deal? That’s something I and others at Keystone Agricultural Producers’ annual meeting had to ponder when the organization elected Portage la Prairie farmer Jill Verwey as its new president. In one way it was the oldest story in the world: an established farmer with lots of experience […] Read more
Environmentalists, producers find ways to work together
The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing […] Read more
COVID hiccups may make meeting season a little weird
One vice-president had COVID. So did the organization’s policy manager. They both took part in the meeting through a Zoom link. One farmer from a long way away was there in person. The internet service on his farm is so bad that trying to participate through Zoom is impossible. Some farmers and observers were there […] Read more
Farmers’ listening tastes vary while on the combine
Some farmers hum while they’re operating the combine. Others listen to the hum of the machinery — and any unsettling sounds that shouldn’t be there. Others listen to chatter on talk radio. If it’s a ho-hum day on the fields, some bring up a podcast or audiobook to keep their thinking muscles flexing. When it […] Read more
Modest and good can work out better than big and bold
The pyramids are impressive. The Hoover Dam takes away one’s breath. Even here in Manitoba, the giant Red River diversion that occasionally saves Winnipeg from flooding, known to those with historical memory as Duff’s Ditch and as the Floodway to most, fills the eye with splendour any politician would love to preen before. That isn’t […] Read more
