As I write this editorial Kyiv, capital of Ukraine, is under attack by Russian troops, as Russian leader Vladimir Putin attempts to assert a new world order… one that happens to look a lot like the old world order. The former KGB agent-turned politician and head of the crony-capitalism oligarchy that replaced the Soviet Union
Editor’s Take: Winds of war
Editor’s Take: Managing short supply
Early on in the pandemic I recall standing in line in the cold outside Costco, waiting for my turn to get into the store. As I waited, more or less patiently, I noticed several hastily made signs on printer paper that lined the crowd control fences — or perhaps ‘human corral’ might be a more
Editor’s Take: The countdown on the next farm policy review begins
The next national agricultural policy framework will take effect April 1, 2023. That gives the federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers just over a year to make the new rules that will govern countless aspects of your business’s financial life. That’s not much time to get them right. One of the biggest bones of contention
Editor’s Take: Eastbound and down
There’s been a lot of noise generated around a trucker convoy to Ottawa protesting vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers. As our Alexis Stockford reports in our Feb. 3 issue, some of the supporters included Manitoba farmers. And some of the province’s farm groups expressed some muted support for the goals, especially when framed as keeping
Editor’s Take: The technology tipping point
“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.” That snippet of dialogue from Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises is a handy summation of the nature of change. Things go along for a while — often a good long while — in a certain mould, and
Editor’s Take: The sick man of the Prairies
In the mid-19th century, the Ottoman Empire was in trouble. It had controlled much of Southeastern Europe, Western Asia, and Northern Africa from the 14th century onward, but had now entered a period of decline and contraction. Emperor Nicholas I of the Russian Empire coined the phrase ‘the sick man of Europe’ to describe the
Editor’s Take: Getting with the times
I have many memories, when I was a kid, of trips to the elevator. We’d roll up the driveway and earthen ramp, into the building and over the pit. The man on duty that day — and back then it was always a man — would greet my father as we stepped off the scale.
Editor’s Take: Poverty wages
Much has been made of the agriculture labour shortage throughout the country. Committees have been struck, task forces created, reports authored and strategies presented. But it has been to no avail. The gap between open jobs and available workers just keeps growing. Lately, amidst the so-called ‘Great Resignation,’ this trend has appeared widely throughout the
Manitoba sees fall drought relief
Manitoba led the Prairies into drought. Could it lead the way out too?
Trevor Hadwen says there’s a sliver of hope for Manitoba producers after a drought-stricken 2021 growing season. As the region settles into the winter, rainfall in the southern corridor of the province has improved the outlook significantly. It’s still dry, but nowhere near the levels seen this summer. “The drought assessment in Manitoba has pulled back a lot
Editor’s Take: Why so high?
When the goal is creating nitrogen fertilizer, the first thing you need to start with is a lot of natural gas. Everyone understands natural gas is one of the largest inputs — most estimates say about 70 per cent of the price you pay for nitrogen can be traced back to natural gas prices. But
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
