Proudly Canadian
Proudly Canadian
The view from Northern Blossom Farms - Part 2
A university instructor is turning his nano farm into a living laboratory for sustainable farming systems
I spoke to a number of young farmers recently and learned that they are questioning the business decision that every farmer makes every year: Hold $2 million in assets, invest another $250,000 cash in a crop in order to get $60,000 profit. And that is if everything goes right, which it typically doesn’t. What isThere’s good money to be made in peas these days but producers such as Jason Hodsen are struggling to find sufficient supplies of seed
A small green and yellow pea crop in 2012 and increased demand is pushing old-crop prices to new heights this spring, while limiting the amount of available seed. “There is a potential for a very strong market for the next few years,” Jackie Kress, senior grain manager for Legumex Walker, said at the recent WildFarmers in drier regions of the western Prairies flirted with canola but are turning back to the tried and true
Attractive prices and weather issues are expected to help farmers in Canada take a serious look at seeding more acres to wheat this summer than in previous years, according to industry sources. “Last year a lot of farmers took a chance with canola given the high financial returns, but the drier-than-anticipated conditions across parts ofHolistic management instructor calls for adoption of farming methods that restore soil health and make farmers prosperous
Don’t talk to Blain Hjertaas about “sustainability.” The farmer and holistic management instructor from Redvers, Sask., can’t stand that word. “I hate the word ‘sustainable,’” Hjertaas told the recent Western Canada Holistic Management conference. “If we’re in the toilet bowl, and we keep sustaining it, we aren’t ever getting out.” Hjertaas’s presentation juxtaposed the decline
