It will be bitterly disappointing to many farmers that the Canadian Transportation Agency chose to reject a level-of-service complaint filed by the Canola Growers of Canada over last winter’s rail service. The Canola Growers’ level-of-service complaint was the one opportunity farmers had to extract some compensation for their losses in last winter’s debacle, even if
Editorial: Farmers shouldn’t get mad, they should get organized
Present regulatory system doesn't allow Canadian farmers' voice to be heard
Editorial: the ‘wicked problem’ of herbicide-resistant weeds
It's not only a problem of chemistry, but human behaviour itself
When I first tuned into a recent summit on herbicide resistance being broadcast live by webinar from Washington, D.C., my first thought was that I had virtually stumbled into the wrong conference. The keynote speaker wasn’t a weed scientist. He is a sociologist. But as I listened, it became clear this speaker, and the ones
Editorial: Hay there!
Telling your stories in the big, broad world of agriculture
Several readers called in about our reference last week to “shovelling hay” into a threshing machine in our front-page cutline. The general consensus was as a farm paper, we should know better. And we do, most of the time. Of course, you don’t shovel hay into a threshing machine. You pitch in the sheaves. However,
Editorial: The waiting game
Support is greatly needed for farmers affected by flooding, but what will it be and when?
“May the odds be forever in your favour” is a memorable quote from the The Hunger Games, a popular book trilogy later made into movies. Although it is voiced as a cheery sendoff into competition, the irony is that the child protagonists face unspeakably cruel odds, pitted against one another in a fight-to-the-finish match from
Editorial: A growth strategy
A strategy for Manitoba's processing sector must focus on needs of all players
Researchers with the Rural Development Institute, which is affiliated with Brandon University, recently set out to answer a seemingly simple question: how big might the Manitoba food processing and beverage industry be in 2020? The answer they came up with suggests a better question might have been — how small? After crunching the numbers and
Editorial: Trends and anomalies
It’s easy to get a little giddy when things go much better than expected. For example, take last year’s bin buster of a crop. By any measure, it was an astounding production feat. Western Canadian farmers shattered all previous records on most major crops, growing a whopping 76 million tonnes, 50 per cent higher than
Editorial: The third option
Trials have shown adding a perennial forage to your crop rotation can be effective weed control
At a time when soil erosion is recognized as one of the biggest threats to the world’s ability to continue feeding itself, it’s disturbing to see weed scientists advising tillage to address invading “superweeds.” There is no question that addressing the lengthening list of weeds that have developed resistance to glyphosate must be a top
Editorial: Who is confused? How consumers view agriculture
The final report to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada from a series of consumer focus groups it commissioned last year is enlightening, but not because of what it tells us about how domestic customers view this country’s agriculture sector. Rather it speaks volumes about the people asking the questions. The final report “Modern agriculture and agricultural
Beef producers: reading this will lower your blood pressure
As long as you’re not producing well-marbled carcasses
Penn State University researchers say that contrary to conventional wisdom, a growing body of evidence shows that eating lean beef can reduce risk factors for heart disease. “This research adds to the significant evidence, including work previously done in our lab, that supports lean beef’s role in a heart-healthy diet,” Penny M. Kris-Etherton, distinguished professor
Grounded
It is easy to see why drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are without a doubt the hottest new technology to hit the Farm Belt. They offer a relatively inexpensive option for comprehensive field scouting, allowing farmers to easily pinpoint troubled spots in their fields for closer inspection. We suspect that over time