Even in June, you could feel a drought in the making as we tramped across the bone-dry paddocks of Doug Wray’s ranch north of Calgary. Far from the lush, succulent feel of the pastures here in Manitoba, the grasses there rustled and crunched underfoot. Conditions haven’t improved — in fact, the situation out west has
Editorial: Increasing your farming options
Editorial: The green world’s breadbasket?
Jeff Rubin, the former chief economist for CIBC World Markets turned bestselling author, knows all about adaptation. His first book, Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller grabbed international attention with predictions that world oil prices would climb to more than $200 a barrel by 2012, forcing a rethink of almost
Editorial: Agri-resilience is farmers’ best defence for managing risk
No one understands risk preparedness and management better than an insurance company. The iconic insurance giant Lloyd’s laid out a stark scenario recently in a report about the potential for weather-related disasters to undermine the entire global food system. The 327-year-old insurance firm says it wouldn’t take much — just three catastrophic weather events hitting
Editorial: Beef production and the view from Alberta
The view is different out here — and it’s not just the scenery. Granted, Co-operator staff had the rare opportunity last week to visit with ranchers in and around Calgary that were specifically selected by their colleagues at Alberta Farmer Express specifically because they do things a little differently. Nevertheless, it was an eye-opener listening
Editorial: The buzz around bees, neonics and the ‘big picture’
In our business, getting the facts right and keeping them in context is a constant challenge. Such is the case with the materials circulated as part of the Buzzing Gardens campaign rolled out last week by Bees Matter, an industry group formed to present information on bee health. It offers free flower seeds to gardeners
Editorial: It’s time to rethink poultry production
The bird flu epidemic has wiped out 12 per cent of U.S. egg-laying capacity in a matter of weeks
The numbers surrounding the bird flu epidemic change each day. But they are staggering. Early this week, the USDA was reporting 197 confirmed outbreaks among poultry flocks with losses of 44.6 million fowl, many of them egg-laying hens. The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) predicts the number of birds affected will climb to 50
Editorial: COOL fight not over yet
U.S. legislators will soon vote to repeal, but how it will all play out remains to be clear
The WTO has made its final-final decision in Canada’s favour on U.S. labelling laws. It now appears that U.S. legislators in the House of Representatives will vote next month on a bill to repeal it. But Canada’s COOL fight isn’t over. Support for repealing the legislation is less secure from the U.S. Senate where the
Editorial: Demand pull nature of organic foods can’t be ignored
The market for organic foods continues to grow in spite of naysayers
Imagine farming in a world in which you could control your production costs, receive a premium for what you produce, and where demand exceeds the supply. That might seem like the impossible dream in a year like this one, when it appears it doesn’t matter what crop a farmer grows, there are very few opportunities
Editorial: Risk management on the farm
What does the future hold for farm stabilization payments in Canada?
Changes to AgriStability three years ago that were designed to limit the exposure of federal and provincial coffers appear to have been more successful than politicians and bureaucrats ever imagined. The changes implemented for 2013 reduce the potential for a payment as well as the potential size of payment. It now appears the number of
Editorial: What’s it going to take to stop soil erosion?
Soil erosion still alive and (not) well in Manitoba
You could have mistaken Co-operator reporter Lorraine Stevenson for a coal miner, coated as she was with black dirt, after she ventured out across southern Manitoba during those 70- to 90-kilometre-per-hour winds April 15. But for the modern farm equipment and steel granaries in the background, her photographs of airborne and drifting soil could have