We’re officially into ‘interesting times.’ There’s no other way to categorize it, as the reports start stacking up. Tire and glyphosate shortages because of power cuts in China. The U.K. contemplating a pig cull and milk dumping for lack of labour. Retailers fretting over a ‘cancelled Christmas’ due to supply chain snarling. Gasoline prices in
Editor’s Take: Riding the lightning
Editor’s Take: Rubber, meet road
In recent years the country’s two major railways have all but dislocated their metaphorical shoulders patting themselves on the back. They’re rightly very proud of record grain movement year after year, and have pointed to major investments in infrastructure, equipment and personnel as key to that success. And to be clear, both CN and CP
Editor’s Take: A closer mirror
A few years back I stumbled across the work of the late Barbara Tuchman, a historian who wrote bestselling books about everything from the events leading to the First World War to the folly of governments pursuing policies that were actually contrary to their own interests. The book that initially captured my interest was A
Editor’s Take: A deal’s a deal
Let’s play ‘what if?’ What if you signed a contract with your local grain company for $15 a bushel? And suddenly a few months later, prices had fallen to just $10 a bushel. Would you be rushing down to the elevator to assure the local agent that it was OK, and they didn’t need to
Editor’s Take: Simple solutions
The agriculture industry is — rightly — proud of its track record of adoption of cutting-edge technology and techniques. From GPS positioning and auto steer to data collection and prescription soil mapping, information is the lifeblood of the farm of today and tomorrow. Which is why it’s so perplexing that relatively few farmers avail themselves
Editor’s Take: On vaccine efficacy
One of the key metrics that crop protection products are evaluated on is one known as ‘efficacy.’ You’re quite right if you think that’s a $5 word for ‘effectiveness.’ Whether or not a crop protection product does what it says it will do is a critical part of its evaluation by federal regulators. If it
Agriculture recognition election goal
Sectoral leaders say industry will do its best to push its issues onto the agenda
If agriculture garners attention during the 2021 election campaign, it will likely be as part of a larger discussion as candidates duke it out over climate change, an emerging green economy and post-pandemic recovery. That’s the perception of a number of observers in the province’s agriculture sector who recently spoke to the Co-operator. Why it matters:
Editor’s Take: A tale of two programs
Crop and beef farmers across the province have faced the same challenging times this year but when it comes to being backstopped by support programs, there are some sharp differences. Early reports suggest many grain farmers are seeing yields in the 60 per cent of normal neighbourhood on their cereals. Some have, of course, done
A long dry cycle
The current drought crisis has been building for several years and costs are compounding
As farmers settled in for the winter late last fall, agrometeorologists were already looking ahead with worry to the 2021 growing season. After a pair of dry years, the typical fall recharge of ground moisture had failed to materialize, and they realized that the stage was being set for a major challenge the following year.
Editor’s Take: The political winds are blowing
For those who care about such things, it’s been an eventful few days in politics, both provincially and federally. Here in Manitoba, Brian Pallister, the only Manitoba premier in many years to have grown up on a farm, confirmed speculation that he won’t be leading the Progressive Conservatives into the next campaign. And federally, the
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