Manitoba Agriculture has released its latest organic crops cost-of-production figures and once again the production system is stacking up well against conventional agriculture. Higher production costs are typically met by higher prices, which more than offset the production lag organic growers can experience, Roy Arnott, a farm management specialist with Manitoba Agriculture’s Killarney office, told
Organic production an economic winner
The latest cost-of-production estimates for organic crops paint a picture of resilience
Editorial: Weathering winter
It’s always amusing when places that don’t usually expect it get a taste of what to us is a typical winter. That was fully evident earlier this month when large swaths of the U.S. were hit hard by cold. Suddenly U.S. schools and universities were closed and private businesses, including many in agriculture, were calling
Editorial: A shifting paradigm
Since the start of the Second World War, food guides in the western world have all shared a similar singular focus. Military recruiters of the time were shocked to learn that many men at the time wouldn’t make adequate soldiers because their basic nutritional needs had not been met in the depths of the Great
Editorial: Rubber meets road on trade deals
It’s an article of faith in many parts of Canada’s agriculture economy that trade is good, the freer the better. In the run-up to recent deals with the European Union (CETA) and a group of Asian-Pacific trading partners (CPTPP,) many of your industry groups were among the loudest and most supportive voices. Both are now
Editorial: Back to business
I’ll never forget my young daughter’s reaction a few years ago to the first day back to school after Christmas break. As I tried to gently shake her awake and tell it was time to get ready for school, she peered at me bleary eyed and wailed: “So there’s no more holidays? You mean it’s
Editorial: The slow road to rural Internet growth
The other day I had the opportunity to sit down with some of the equipment manufacturers developing the latest precision agriculture technology. The discussion was both interesting and informative and hinted at some tantalizing developments as this system really begins to get going. But it also revealed just how dependent the whole thing is going
Editorial: Staying safe on the farm
Agriculture regularly tops surveys and studies of dangerous professions. Despite the process of going high tech, every season there’s still a heaping helping of manual labour, heavy equipment, confined spaces and moving parts. Add the exhaustion of long hours and mental stress and it can be a recipe for disaster. This all added up to
Editorial: Getting it right
It’s early in the winter farm meeting season but already seed royalties are promising to be one of the year’s evergreen topics. That’s hardly surprising, after all, seed is a fundamental building block for any grain farm. It’s also something that’s seen a lot of changes over the past few decades. Most of the crops
Editorial: Hung out to dry
It’s a tall order trying to obey rules when you don’t know what they are, but that’s exactly the situation some Manitoba farmers are facing as they try to preserve this year’s weather-damaged crop. The German novelist Franz Kafka captured this nicely in his 1925 novel The Trial, where the protagonist, one Josef K. is
Pork industry chalking up wins
While poor prices have grabbed the headlines the long-term trends are more positive
The Manitoba Pork Council is quietly celebrating a string of low-key wins during its fall producer meetings. From falling numbers of PED cases to a modest barn-building boom and new trade deals that will stabilize and expand markets, long-term trends look positive, the group says. Why it matters: The industry needs to stay focused on
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