These days everything is getting referred to as resilient. Canada’s food system is being described as being “resilient” for having faced the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic and failing to break, although it seemed like it might buckle for a while. After initially running short on flour, toilet paper and a range of products, there […] Read more
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Everybody’s getting resilient – but what does that really mean?
BLOG: Sustainable ag is here to stay
ESG investing. It may not be a household phrase yet, but it’s already shaping the future of agriculture. And in five to 10 years, Canadian producers may be operating their farms differently because of ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing. In the last 11 months, I probably received 150 emails from dozens of agriculture and […] Read more
Canada can’t ever go back, and that’s just something Canadians will have to accept
“You can’t ever go back.” That was the theme of a conversation I had with one of my daughters on the weekend. There was no specific place we were talking about, just the idea that the places that we have lived and been no longer really exist once we’ve left them, because every “place” is […] Read more
Consumers are cheap, but they’re willing to eat local foods – if it’s easy
Consumers want to buy locally-produced food – but for most people it has to be cheap and easy to find. It has to be really easy to find. And as cheap as non-local food. Those, to me, are the most apparent insights from a major survey of consumers recently conducted by Sylvain Charlebois and colleagues […] Read more
Percy and me
This isn’t a post about Percy Schmeiser, the real-life Bruno, Sask. farmer, and me, the Western Producer reporter. This is about Percy the Myth, now of Hollywood movie fame (played by Christopher Walken,) and me, the Western Producer reporter. I’ve never much engaged with the mythology of Percy, who became a cause celebre for anti-genetically […] Read more
BLOG: We export rocks to Europe, they sell us Audis
The benefits of Canada’s free trade deal with the European Union can be summed up like this: we’re selling Europe more oil and minerals, they’re selling us more BMWs, pharmaceutical drugs and high-tech machinery. In an optimistic document released in June, the federal government touted the economic benefits of the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade […] Read more
Say goodbye to Silly Season and hello to Serious Season
We’re reduced to this: arguing about whether or not Adele should have worn a Jamaican-themed outfit to a London Caribbean festival and getting worked up about some young radicals in Montreal pulling down and beheading a much-ignored statue of John A Macdonald. This is a good way for Silly Season to depart. (Silly Season is […] Read more
The challenge to Freeland: Don’t let the Green agenda kill the Growth agenda
Farming and other growth industries don't need to clash with a "Green" agenda, but they might if the new finance minister doesn't handle things right
Prairie farmers should be happy to see Chrystia Freeland become the federal finance minister. She’s a champion of free trade and expanded global trade; she has great financial understanding; she’s tough as nails; she has deep western roots. But she’s being brought in to Finance in the midst of loud talk about Prime Minister Justin […] Read more
It’s like the pandemic never happened, at least for canola and the loonie
If I remember right, six months back a pandemic hit us like a tumbling asteroid. Flames, smoke and a succession of massive shockwaves hit the world’s economies and societies as our hopes and sense of security were blotted out by heavens of blackness and acid rain. But here we are today, at least in much […] Read more
Canada’s family hog farmers need help immediately, says CPC
Waiting months will see many leave the industry
Canada’s independent hog farmers are being crushed by a pricing system that short-changes them on pigs but pays processors and grocers top-dollar at the same time. If it isn’t fixed soon, many of the remaining family hog farms will disappear, says the Canadian Pork Council. “Something’s gotta give here, otherwise guys are going to be […] Read more
