A Deep, Enduring Connection With The Agricultural Community

The Co-operators is a key long-standing example of farmers working for farmers. Canadian farmers have long understood the importance of banding together. In this current economic climate, the need for farmers to work together is especially important. Farmers have a long history of interacting with co-operative organizations such as The Co-operators. Intrinsically linked to the

Manitoba Farmer Gives Commons Committee An Earful

Politicians and farm groups spend too much time debating marketing boards, the Canadian Wheat Board and farm safety nets and not enough on what will really help producers, a southwestern Manitoba farmer told the Commons agriculture committee recently. “Those three areas of policy suck 90 per cent of the oxygen out of the ag policy


Moving From Supply To Value-Driven Business Models

The following is excerpts from the report “Characterizing the Ideal Model of Value Chain Management and Barriers to its Implementation” recently released by the George Morris Centre at the University of Guelph. Many attempts have been made to describe what differentiates a supply chain from a value chain. What lies at the heart of the

GIPSA Watchdog Better Bite

Who is J. Dudley Butler and why are meat packers and their allies saying nasty things about the courtly, 61-year-old from Yazoo County, Missouri? Butler is the new administrator of the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA). That makes him the watchdog over Big Meat and their apologists –


As The World Spins

There’s an urban myth that makes the rounds every so often about the genealogist researching her own family tree. She discovers that she shares a common ancestor with a prominent politician and so, does a little more digging. It turns out the ancestor was a notorious criminal, a horse thief who escaped from prison to

Hog Loan Aid No-Win For Ottawa

Canada’s government will set off squeals of protests no matter how it decides to handle a plea for aid from its desperate hog farmers. If Ottawa fails to come through on the $800-million loan request, Canada stands to lose a large chunk of its once-lucrative hog sector to bankruptcy and closures. But aid for Canuck



Myths Distort Canadian Farm Policy

“(T)he argument that we need to subsidize farming in case the world collapses and we need to supply ourselves simply makes no sense. Myths exist about the strategic position of food, the importance of the family farm to the preservation of rural Canada, and the need to defend Canadian farming in the face of European


What Does “Organic” Really Mean?

The word “organic” has proved to be one of the most powerful words in today’s supermarket. But what, people always ask me, does it mean? For many, it means food coming from an idyllic, little local family farm where no pesticides or chemical fertilizers are used and where the little animals roam free and happy

Corporate Co-Operation

Hardly a week has passed this summer without an announcement of another collaborative effort between the major players in plant breeding. Monsanto’s collaboration with Dow AgroSciences to bring SmartStax, the agriculture industry’s first eight-gene stack, to the market is only the latest of a string of similar announcements in recent years. Monsanto has also just