There are ever-fewer kids on Canadian farms, in part because there are ever-fewer Canadian farms. But appallingly, the rate of fatalities among farm kids has remained constant over the past three decades. Agriculture is a unique industry, with its social side blended indistinguishably with its business operations. But farms are dangerous places comprising largely unregulated […] Read more
Tag Archives WP editorial
Farmers must learn reasons for lambda-cy use changes
An old-school pest is plaguing Canadian farms. Technocratis momentus bureaucratica, or TMB, was thought to be approaching endangered status in Ottawa, where it was once endemic. Lower trapped populations in recent years left the nation’s farmers optimistic about the need to spray the Hill with repeated, high-rate applications of Lobbiest, tank-mixed with the adjuvant CommonSense. […] Read more
It’s best for government to leave all trade on the table
Should Canada stop trading away its supply-management production during international trade discussions? Depending on where you farm and what you farm, the quick answers to this might seem simple. But, what are the right ones? There is a private member’s bill in the House of Commons related to this right now. The bill would prevent […] Read more
Current affairs help stir up world’s food vs. fuel debate
Acres are finite; at least the best ones for growing food are. There are darned few remaining areas with under-tapped, potentially sustainable farmland. Converting additional food-land to fuel-land is a troubling concept at times when there appears to not be enough food for the planet’s people. Food versus fuel debates last became a talked-about issue […] Read more
Alberta says good riddance to archaic squatter’s rights
For those who have been overstaying their welcome on someone else’s ground in Alberta, the right to stay and claim it for your own has ended. And it might have been about time that squatter’s rights came to an end. In the past in that province, if you had hung around for more than a […] Read more
Livestock haulers need road rules flexibility
In one hand is a set of rules designed to ensure that professional drivers of heavy trucks are rested and able to fulfil their duties safely. In the other hand is a set of rules designed to ensure that livestock are humanely handled and delivered in good, marketable condition. Both hands also hold the needs, […] Read more
There is no accounting for some folks’ opinions
Farm commodities and farming in general are under tremendous pressure to be better and be better understood. Better able to stand a highly variable climate. Better able to meet rapidly evolving regulatory change. Better able to provide market demands for new nutrition and energy sources. Better able to produce ever-more with ever-less. And they need […] Read more
Ag policy: changing horses or just changing saddles?
Agriculture Canada quietly, in the dead of night (or in this case at harvest time), reset its strategic plan regarding scientific priorities. The previous science objectives were to increase farm productivity, improve environmental performance and attributes for food and non-food uses of products from farming and address threats to agriculture and the agriculture and food […] Read more
Traceability plan paid off after early misgivings
The move to traceability in the Canadian cattle business had a rocky start but now, 25 years later, it has proven out some of its early promise. At first, producers feared banks, insurance companies, the Canada Revenue Agency and animal health companies would seek and obtain access to the data. Cow-calf producers would have to […] Read more
What Canadians see: red barns and headlands
Two 2022 studies, similar results. Canadians, when asked, say they are concerned about changes in the climate, inflation and labour supplies as they relate to food production. The Canadian Centre for Food Integrity and Bayer’s Climate Fieldview both queried the nation’s consumers to see how farmers and agriculture are perceived by the public. Agriculture comes […] Read more
