We’ve swapped their Meng for our Michaels and everything’s back to normal, right? Probably not. Getting back to a pre-December 1, 2018 normal isn’t likely to ever happen, at least not while China is governed by the Communist party and we are a liberal democracy. The oceans of difference we tried to ignore before the […] Read more
Tag Archives Blog
What do we learn from the Meng-Michaels resolution?
Improving the Prairie
I remember getting my face sandblasted during the drought of the late 1980s. That would happen anywhere in downtown Regina, where the grit and dust and dirt of farm country blew through in ugly blasts, filling a young city lad’s eyes. I remember seeing dirt-drifted ditches across farm country in those days, and my dad […] Read more
Improving the Prairie
I remember getting my face sandblasted during the drought of the late 1980s. That would happen anywhere in downtown Regina, where the grit and dust and dirt of farm country blew through in ugly blasts, filling a young city lad’s eyes. I remember seeing dirt-drifted ditches across farm country in those days, and my dad […] Read more
How do you get ready for normal when you don’t know what’s normal any longer?
Most people are getting ready for things to go back to normal. As the pandemic wanes, at least here in the vaccinated world, most people are expecting life, business, school and society to go back to normal, after almost two years of COVID-19. Some expect it right away and some don’t expect things to normalize […] Read more
Farmers need to make the drought matter – to urbanites
With his voice cracking with emotion, Tyler Fulton described a farm family forced to sell-off their cow herd, a herd produced by years of family effort. For thousands of farmers, this summer’s drought is destroying not only their family’s hopes and dreams, but also their ability to survive on the farm. Without a cow herd […] Read more
BLOG: CETA is working perfectly — for European farmers
Earlier this year, a representative of the Canadian government shared a positive message with farmers in Ireland. Suzanne Drisdelle, chargé d’affaires at the embassy, spoke about the value of the Canada-European Union trade agreement when she addressed an Irish government committee in April. She told the committee that the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement is […] Read more
BLOG: Guess what? Farms are now poisoning the air you breathe
In the era we live, with Facebook friends who are experts in vaccines and social media influencers who have done “all the research” on viruses, communicating actual science is not an easy task. With all the noise on the internet — the jackhammers and buzz saws that drown out reasonable discussion — it’s hard to […] Read more
When China stops growing, what does it stop buying?
China has stopped growing. Did you hear? It’s a potentially world-changing and markets-disrupting development that while not entirely unexpected to happen sometime, certainly was not expected to be happening yet. Basically, China’s population is believed to have fallen slightly, as the lingering impact of its famous “one child” policy continues to sap China’s fertility rate, […] Read more
Industry “resiliency” is a never-given
Everybody hates getting their vehicle stuck and having to call for help. I’m sure the captain of the Ever Given, the gigantic container ship that completely blocked the Suez Canal for a week, was mightily embarrassed having to put out an emergency call to canal officials, tug boat operators and his bosses at the shipping […] Read more
The tectonic plates shift on China, and Canada’s one of the shifting pieces
But where will the plates end up, and what new mountain ranges and troughs will appear before it's all over?
I keep a globe by my desk. I spin it around to the relevant places whenever I write about global trade and geopolitics. It’s the best low-tech tool I have to get instant perspective on some of the more complex events that affect farmers, agriculture, commodities and our nation. Today I spun it to the […] Read more
