PEDv spread like wildfire in the U.S., but Canada successfully limited its spread.

Standing tall: How Canada’s pork sector survived the attack of a killer virus

PEDv decimated the U.S. hog herd, but Canada showed how to do biosecurity right

When it comes to finding expert advice on biosecurity, cattle producers might want to sit down with their local hog farmer. The country’s outstanding record on controlling the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus has a host of lessons for the cattle sector, says a swine veterinarian who was deeply involved in Alberta’s battle against PEDv. Start

McDonald’s rolls out campaign thanking farmers

McDonald’s rolls out campaign thanking farmers

Eighty-five per cent of the food it serves three million Canadian customers per day comes from Canadian farmers

McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada wants Canadian farmers to know they couldn’t do it without them. The company rolled out a month-long advertising campaign this week with commercials featuring empty containers for its most popular menu items with the slogan “not without Canadian farmers.” Television and online commercials link consumers to its Our Food Your Questions


grain bag

Editorial: Keep talking about farm safety

We’re going out on a limb here to say the farmers featured in this week’s front-page story are courageous, not because they survived their harrowing ordeal, but because they are talking about it. The father and son duo made a mistake that could have ended tragically. Joel Dewitz admits to feeling pretty sheepish about the

quinoa

Northern Quinoa aiming for 100,000 acres

Quinoa growers wanted — with the right location and right rotation

Get ready to see more quinoa waving in the Prairie breeze. Saskatchewan-based Northern Quinoa Corp. is preparing to increase its acres nearly twentyfold over the next three years. The company has about 5,250 acres of the ancient grain under contract this summer, but it would like to see 100,000 acres across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba


farmers watching sunset

Elections and the value of showing up

If farmers don’t speak, it will be others, who may not understand our industry, who decide who goes to Ottawa

There is an old saying in politics, “policy is set by those who show up.” Not always those with the best and brightest ideas and not even always a majority. The first and most important step on the road to being an influencer is to show up. Canadians will elect a new House of Commons

knife cutting into a steak

Canadians love meat, but don’t take them for granted

Demand should stay strong despite higher prices, but cases of meat fraud 
could undermine consumer confidence

What do Confucius, Albert Einstein and Leonardo Di Vinci have in common? Well, not much professionally, but they were all vegetarians. Einstein once claimed that, “Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” With recent record meat prices, some might


MGEX spring wheat weekly nearby. Chart as of Aug. 26, 2015.

Drozd: Harami provides a signal to sell wheat

It is difficult to know when to sell in a rising market

The wheat market rallied $1 per bushel in the two-week period leading up to the June 30, 2015 USDA and Statistics Canada acreage reports. But it was all downhill shortly after the July long weekend. This timely rally provided producers with an opportunity to price remaining old-crop wheat and move forward on new-crop sales. From

The union representing federal scientists says the Harper 
government’s war on science continues.

AAFC Lethbridge library takes a hit

The department says it is modernizing information delivery, the union says it is trashing valuable research

The library at the Lethbridge Research Centre of Agriculture Canada has been stripped of years of valuable research documents in the Harper government’s latest purge of science, says the union representing 15,000 federal scientists. However, the department insists the dispatch of the library’s collection for recycling is part of “modernizing the delivery of library services


Times have changed in the food business since COOL was first made into law.

Editorial: COOL’s $2.9-billion divide

It’s no secret that Canadian livestock groups and the federal government would like nothing better than to see the U.S. surrender and repeal its country-of-origin labelling (COOL) scheme. It appears, however, that those efforts are bogged down once again. Firstly, we’re in the midst of a federal election campaign. Even if the Harper government gets