There are more people roaming around rural Canada during the pandemic and that’s increased concerns about trespassing and trash that finds its way onto farms. We live on a corner property and one of the side roads that runs along our farm is a no-winter maintenance road. Early in the pandemic it became a magnet
Guest Editorial: The thorny issue of people on your land
Guest Editorial: Carbon questions loom
The march to some sort of agricultural carbon economy is on and it’s integral that we get it right if we go down this road. Policy can’t be driven by politics and ideology. Unfortunately, the science of carbon sequestration continues to be fuzzy, which leaves open the opportunity for opinion to guide the policy. There
Comment: The pandemic has shown governments can make decisions quickly
Too often, bureaucratic entropy takes over and that makes us less competitive in the global marketplace
One of the lessons of the pandemic and response to it by governments and regulatory agencies is that regulatory agility is possible. COVID-19 vaccines have been approved with record speed, and from what I can find, the government says that the same vigour of process has also been applied. The only point missing is long-term studies
Disease can reach hog herds through feed
Research says disease travels on feed.The hog sector is working to limit the risks
North America’s livestock feed system continues to change to manage the risk of disease travelling on feed. The changes have meant world-leading restrictions on feed imports to Canada and a decline in imports of soybean meal into the U.S. from areas of major swine diseases. It’s also meant that some large farms are adopting supplier-to-farm
Data hackers coming to a farm near you
Recent attacks on computer systems show that agriculture isn’t immune to hackers
Agriculture pays little attention to computer system security, but it will be an increasing threat as farms gets larger, technology use increases and global actors look to disrupt food systems. That means that agriculture is well behind other important sectors of the economy in protecting its computer networks, says a cybersecurity researcher. It’s a reality
Going paperless: Pandemic makes digital a new reality
The COVID-19 pandemic response is driving farms and companies to paperless transactions
The COVID-19 crisis is forcing changes to how business is done in Canadian agriculture, driving a long-delayed move to digital business transactions. Deliveries from or visits to a supplier often doubled as social interactions in farm country, but that face-to-face culture is being supplanted by digital bits. Why it matters: Paper transactions and payments move
The wired farm
Will 5G networks kick off a wave of innovation for Canada’s farms?
Users of the Samsung Galaxy S20 phone will be the first to have access to 5G technology in Canada. Rural residents and farmers will have to wait much longer – if the technology ever arrives. Rogers announced in early March that it is rolling out 5G networks in Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal, with 20
The ‘lightning rod issue’ of agriculture and climate change
There is a positive side to the story of agriculture and climate change. Why is it so hard getting anyone to listen?
Glacier FarmMedia – The Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) recently painted a picture of Canadian agriculture and greenhouse gas emissions that runs counter to commonly held public perceptions. The CAPI paper said generally the sector has its house in order. Canadian agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions peaked in 2005 and have remained steady at about 60
Technology brings augmented reality to your dairy barn
Company overlaying data and reality in new system to help information management
Imagine looking over your barn full of dairy cows and being able to tell instantly which ones were in heat and which ones are up and down in feed consumption or milk. There are ways to do this now, with a phone or a tablet computer feeding information to the farmer as they move through the barn. However, Nedap
New meat recall prolongs Ryding-Regency shutdown
Ryding-Regency Meat Packers remains shut down, making an already tight processing capacity situation event more challenging for Ontario farmers. The Toronto company, along with St. Ann’s Food, announced a recall Tuesday of a long list of its products because of concerns with E. coli O157:H7. More products were added to the recall on Thursday. The
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
