Editorial: Seed royalty proposal no slam dunk

At first the discussion around seed royalties seemed largely a foregone conclusion. At question wasn’t if royalties would be collected on cereals crops to fund varietal research. Rather, the debate centred around how they’d be collected, with two models discussed under the supervision of the federal government. The options presented to farmers were a trailing

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: Meeting in the middle

Health Canada has delivered some reassuring news for people worried about glyphosate in their food and the environment in the wake of some of the controversial reports and court rulings last year. The much-publicized jury ruling in favour of a California plaintiff claiming long-term exposure to the weed killer caused his cancer, has touched off


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


Doggerel — 30th anniversary edition

The holiday is over, with all its big meals epicurious You know what that means: it’s time to get serious And start the new year with a bit of reflection On how the past year went in an agricultural direction Then look ahead to advise which crops to be seeding And give you one or

Editorial: The meat industry has a lot on its plate

Predictably, the Canadian Meat Council doesn’t take kindly to the suggestion that consumers are showing increased interest in plant-based proteins at the expense of meat. The council came out swinging at the Canadian Food Price Report released earlier this month, calling the report misleading and noting that demand for meat is “only” set to fall


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