Urban Agriculture Growing In Winnipeg – for Sep. 23, 2010

The tomatoes are ripe, the salad greens have been sold and another growing season is nearly done at Almost Urban Vegetables in St. Norbert. Despite a fourth consecutive harvest under their belts, Bruce Berry and Marilyn Firth are reluctant to call their business a farm. It sounds a bit ostentatious. They prefer the term market

Supply Management Needs Overhaul

Supply management needs a major shakeup to let farmers pursue alternative markets for new and different products, a recent report recommends. That would require more flexibility in a marketing system that currently does not accommodate small, independent producers and their specialty products, it says. The report notably does not advocate abolishing supply management. But it


White House Garden Changing Attitudes

“In the single year since the groundbreaking, Mrs. Obama has caused a dramatic paradigm shift.” – EDDIE GEHMAN KOHAN When the first lady broke ground for a garden on the south lawn of the White House last spring, it was front-page news in the New York Times and Washington Post. Michelle Obama planted the first

More Rural Internet Service Promised

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has been trying to build up his party’s profile in rural Canada with policy pronouncements on firearms and food policy. He didn’t get much reaction until he announced May 4 that a Liberal government would ensure high-speed Internet service right across Canada. Industry Minister Tony Clement quickly defended the Harper government’s


Liberals Propose National Food Policy

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has served up a five-point National Food Policy with entrees for both consumers and farmers on the menu. Speaking on a farm just north of Toronto in late April, Ignatieff said a Liberal government would work toward making more homegrown food available, while pulling the farm sector back from the financial

The Urbanization Of Farm Policy

It has often been difficult over the past decade or so to find the word “farmer” or “agriculture” in the avalanche of policy statements put out by federal parties during election campaigns. Oh sure, there’s been the hot-button issues such as the Canadian Wheat Board, listeria and more money for hard-pressed farmers, but getting the


Langruth Rancher Takes Beef To The Legislature

For the price of two cows that he took to a local abattoir and got made into hamburger, Langruth rancher Kerry Arksey got a lot of ink – and an audience with the provincial agriculture minister. After his quiet, one-man protest at the Manitoba legislature Jan. 26, where he handed out free beef in exchange

Could We Have One Too?

JOHN MORRISS EDITORIAL DIRECTOR “Pickles, no garlic.” That was one of the items on the shopping list, an unusually long one before Christmas when those of us blessed to live in Canada need to worry about having too much food, not too little. Among the brands was one which was almost a dollar cheaper, which


Time To Rethink The Beef Business

We are encouraged by a growing consumer movement towards not only organic foods, but just as important, local foods. Has anyone paid much attention to the NFU’s November 19, 2008 report on The Farm Crisis and the Cattle Sector? Among other things, the report reveals that average cattle prices are nearly half what they were

Manitobans earn “Golden Carrots” on World Food Day

“Let’s continue to build on this effort to bring more food security to this province.” – Rosann Wowchuk Organic greenhouse grower and farm and rural advocate David Neufeld of Boissevain is the recipient of one of six “Golden Carrot” awards handed out at the Manitoba legislature on World Food Day last week. This is the