Chronic issues must be addressed

Every beef producer in Manitoba has a stake in seeing TB eradicated in the area around Riding Mountain National Park

Farm groups often bemoan the fact that it can be difficult to work with governments. You will also often hear associations complain that one department is pursuing objectives that are diametrically opposite to the initiatives of another branch of government. Unfortunately, these complaints often contain a grain of truth. However, it is also true that

Tories deliver feast of food law reform

With all the media hype about XL Foods, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that we still have a food regulatory system as good as any. And it’s getting better. The Harper government’s quick adoption and speedy implementation of all 54 recommendations of the Weatherill report on the 2008 listeriosis outbreak, is now


More New Year ad-verse-ity

Yes, that time again, it’s become a tradition To editorialize in verse in the year’s first edition We review the year past, then with great perspicacity Predict the next year’s events with remarkable accuracy Well, most of the time, because I have to confess That the advice I gave last year was not quite the

Talking turkey over energy

The pre-American Thanksgiving decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to deny the meat industry requests for a waiver on that country’s renewable fuel standard did little to calm the rhetoric between the livestock and ethanol sectors over who should have access to limited corn supplies this year. Shortly after the announcement, the National Turkey


WSGA wants investigation into XL beef recall

The Western Stock Growers’ Association (WSGA) has respectfully asked the Government of Canada to launch an independent investigation into the crisis surrounding the closing and long process to reopen the XL beef plant in Brooks. Recently, producers at the Alberta Beef Producers (ABP) zone meeting in Fort MacLeod supported a motion to call for an

After beef’s biggest recall: What’s next?

The reopening of the XL beef plant at Brooks is not the end of troubles for the Canadian beef industry

The past two months have seen considerable turmoil in Alberta’s beef sector because of the XL beef recall. Although there has been some relief with the JBS takeover there could still be a long way to go. Canada’s beef sector has been influenced by a number of factors:  Grass. Western Canada’s cow-calf sector grew because



Sharing business can foster local shopping

Gift cards, local currencies and “disloyalty” cards can all be used to build businesses and jobs where you live

There’s a wave of business building going on around the developed world, and it doesn’t require a government program to make it happen. It just requires the businesses in a community to get together and agree on one thing: to jointly sponsor a community gift card, a local currency, or both. The community gift card


Soy in the wheat flour? Soy what?

Most wheat and wheat-derived food products sold in Canadian grocery stores today contain soy that is undeclared on the label. Yes, you read that right. Because of farming operations with common storage facilities, and shared harvesting and transportation equipment, most wheat products contain detectable levels of soy. This contamination is adventitious and largely unavoidable with

One per cent checkoff recommended for developing new varieties

The Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry is currently holding hearings on agricultural research. These are excerpts from a presentation Oct. 18 by Richard S. Gray, professor, Bioresource Policy, Business and Economics at the University of Saskatchewan. He has visited Australia, France and the U.K. to study their system for funding research My first