COOL: Some are for it, some are not

More than a decade after mandatory country-of-origin labelling (COOL) was first included in the Farm Bill, the debate continues. We’ve examined a legal opinion by the legal firm Stewart and Stewart (S&S) — paid for by the National Farmers Union, the United States Cattleman’s Association, the Food and Water Watch, and Public Citizen’s Global Trade

Farmers leery of offending grain buyers

The following is an exchange between farm marketing consultant Brenda Tjaden-Lepp of FarmLink Marketing Solutions and Elwin Hermanson, chief commissioner of the Canadian Grain Commission at the recent Canada Grains Council meeting in Winnipeg over how farmer and grain buyers determine fair value. Tjaden-Lepp:  “It boils down to this party wants to sell high and


Fighting more deserts

When I went to the barber in Swift Current in the summer of 1937 to get a haircut and shave, he said the haircut was OK but he had quit shaving people. I asked “how come” and he said he couldn’t keep an edge on the razor anymore. With the terrible dust and the shortage

Price bubbles and commodity markets

Athoughtful new paper from researchers at the University of Illinois marks a significant step forward in research on how commodity futures prices are formed. Until recently, the academic and policy debate about futures price formation has been locked in an acrimonious and polarized standoff between market fundamentalists, who insist all price moves reflect supply-and-demand fundamentals,


U.S. corn prospects threatened as drought lingers in the west

Most of the top corn-producing states in the western half of the Midwest are suffering from much worse drought conditions than a year ago and so are heading into the spring planting season with historically dry soils

Reuters / The recent spell of rain and snow across much of the United States has raised expectations that overall field conditions are recovering from last year’s drought and that the crops planted this spring will get off to a strong start with access to adequate moisture reserves. But despite appearances, the grip of last

Country-of-origin labelling: The fight goes on

It’s the kind of non-tariff trade barrier Canadian exporters can expect to see more of in the future

Not long ago, tariffs were the key barriers to Canadian beef exports. Tariff barriers are still significant problems (Korea for example), but as tariff barriers fall, countries are getting more creative in building border barriers. In some ways, it makes me nostalgic for the good old days when our market access efforts primarily consisted of


Spring and reality floods

There’s lots of speculation these days over when the viewing public will grow tired of the so-called “reality TV” phenomenon, when ordinary people open up their lives for the world to watch while they choose a life partner, sing in a glorified karaoke contest, vote someone off the island or eat weird stuff for cash.

1992 April Fool’s spoof no joke in 2013

The following contains excerpts from a Manitoba Co-operator editorial about “Europeanized” pigs running wild in rural Manitoba that ran as an April Fool’s spoof in 1992. While the anecdotes contained in the article are fabricated, it turns out they aren’t that far out in today’s context. According to news reports, Manitoba Conservation officials shot four


Letters, March 28, 2013

Farmers well represented by commodity groups I am replying to your recent article regarding farmer’s voice splintered. I am a grain farmer from Alberta growing wheat, canola and peas and have been involved in the canola and newly formed wheat commission in this province for the past 20 years. I take exception to your comments

Commodifying the farm voice

For some reason during this day and age, it seems that the things that make the most common sense are the most unlikely to happen. Take for example, Danny Penner’s pitch for farm commodity groups to unify under one research, market promotion and policy umbrella (page 5 of last week’s issue). It makes perfect sense,


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