File photo of apple picking in a Canadian orchard. (Martinedoucet/E+/Getty Images)

New B.C. youth work rules: Heavy lifting, ag chem handling out

New standards also lift province's 'general working age' to 16

“Light farm and yard work” are deemed appropriate for workers at ages 14 and 15 under new employment standards taking effect in British Columbia this fall. The province on Wednesday announced changes to its Employment Standards Act, which have been through the development and consultation stages since 2019, have now been finalized and will take

Joey Fiola and Christel Lanthier and their three daughters, Olivia (6), Anne Rose (4) and Lila (1).

Resurrecting the family farm

Faces of Ag: Joey Fiola and Christel Lanthier are determined to give their girls the same farm life that shaped them

As 25 ewes and a gangly baby llama mill around Christel Lanthier, her six-year-old daughter chats to her in French, the language they speak at home. She’s wondering if you want to know anything about the cats, Christel translates for a reporter. Olivia explains the names of the three cats and shows off her stuffed


One group predicts that 371 million acres of U.S. farm- and ranchland will change hands in the next 15 years, roughly translating to four out of every 10 acres.

Comment: Agriculture’s coming heart transplant

A lot of farmland is expected to change hands in the coming years

If government and private estimates are accurate, hundreds of millions of North American farm acres will have new owners in the next 15 years. For example, the National Agricultural Statistics Service, the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) survey takers and record keepers, predicts that 100 million acres of today’s farmland will be sold by its current

In recent years, the number of Manitoba egg farmers has grown with the demand for eggs.

Manitoba egg farms run by ‘real’ farmers, says MEF

Out-of-province non-farm corporations, are not buying Manitoba egg farms, says Rory Rybuck, general manager of Manitoba Egg Farmers. “You have to have land, equipment of course, and be an actual farmer,” he said in an interview Sept. 25. During the national agriculture debate organized by the Canadian Federation of agriculture broadcast online Sept. 24, Kate

Sam Connery-Nichol in one of her strawberry fields near Portage.

Family is everything for young vegetable farmer

Faces of Ag: Since taking over the farm, Sam Connery-Nichol’s family has expanded to include her staff and 40 to 60 temporary foreign workers

Sam Connery-Nichol’s truck is a grey Chevy Silverado with over 600,000 kilometres on it and rust around the wheel wells. She could probably get a new vehicle — one that’s easier to park in town — but she refuses to let this one go. It was her dad’s truck. Jeff Connery died in 2012 shortly


Pam Bailey and Rauri Qually on their grain farm in Dacotah, near Winnipeg. “Before you want to complain about something, you better be willing to volunteer,” says Pam.

Volunteerism keeps loneliness at bay for young farm couple

Pam Bailey and Rauri Qually maintain a century-old farm near Dacotah, and say they do it because they love it, not because it’s easy

For Rauri Qually and Pam Bailey, a young farm couple, getting involved in commodity and agriculture boards is a way to protect what they love — and a way to cope with the solitary farm lifestyle. “It’s lonely here. I don’t know how my dad did this all by himself,” Rauri told the Manitoba Co-operator

Rising farmland prices puts agriculture at risk

That’s what the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry says in a recent report

Higher farmland prices make it harder for young farmers to get into farming and or expand, but they have options, says J.P. Gervais, Farm Credit Canada’s vice-president and chief agricultural economist. “I do believe now there are more options for young producers in terms of getting involved in different supply chains that don’t necessarily require

The power of a letter to get unstuck

The power of a letter to get unstuck

Sometimes we have to go back to basics in order to keep healthy change happening on our farms. Lately in my transition seminars I have been encouraging frustrated young farmers to write a letter of intent to their founding parents. People who are stuck with a large degree of anxiety and overwhelm from not knowing


Editorial: Moving on

What happens when a farm family is no longer a farm family? This is a question I’ve been mulling lately, after talking with a couple of people I know whose families have decided now is the time to sell up. It’s a reality for many of us, or will be soon enough. Just a walk

American Country farm

Families are the core of corporate farming

Corporate farming is an alarming term to some, but the truth is 
almost all ‘corporate’ farms are still family-owned

North Dakota voters recently reaffirmed the state’s ban on corporate ownership of farms, something that farmers there say limits their ability to structure their businesses. What do you notice when you look at an apple? Perhaps it’s the colour or variety. How do you choose which to buy at the market? Pink Lady? Gala? Granny