People putting food in a donation box

New book ‘The Stop,’ about empowerment, transformation of food banks

Recipe Swap: Oatmeal Risotto with Cherry Tomatoes and Basil, and Parsnip, Sage, Rosemary 
in no-time Risotto

As we head toward Christmas, many of us give generously to charitable causes. Food banks are one of them and they definitely need our help. Goodness knows what would happen if we suddenly closed our wallets on them. Over 60,000 Manitobans turned to one in the month of March, according to the Hunger Count 2014

stacking sacks of wheat in India

India boosts wheat subsidies to farmers

Wheat stocks already in government warehouses are nearly three times the official target

The Indian government has raised the price it will pay to buy new-season wheat from local farmers by 3.57 per cent to 1,450 rupees ($23.60) per 100 kg, encouraging the crop even though supply has exceeded demand for eight years. India, the world’s second-biggest wheat consumer, sets a price each year to protect domestic farmers


world war 2 department of labour notice

Victory in Europe, economy on the homefront

Our History: October & November 1945

The Second World War had ended with victory in Europe declared in May and in Japan in August of 1945, but the lingering effects were still clear in our fall issues of 1945. This advertisement in the Oct. 1 issue advised how armed forces personnel could apply to be released for farm work. Economizing was

vegetables in a store market

Small-scale farming at a crossroads

Is small beautiful or should the new motto be ‘move up or move out?”

As director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, D.C., Shenggen Fan has come a long way from his roots in rural China, where he shared a one-hectare farm with his parents and two brothers. The agricultural economist, honoured earlier this year by the World Food Program’s Hunger Hero Award for his


NDP develops national food strategy

The party is the first to deliver on a promise made by all three main federal parties

Spurred on by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, the three main political parties in the 2011 federal election campaign promised a national food strategy. Three years later, the New Democrats are the first national party to deliver a comprehensive plan to improve food production across the country and ensure all Canadians can afford it. The

Haroon Akram-Lodhi speaks about the causes of world hunger.  
Photo: Shannon VanRaes

Population growth not the cause of world hunger: economist

For some the equation is simple — more people on the planet means more people go hungry. Not for Haroon Akram-Lodhi. The economist and Trent University professor who specializes in the political economy of agrarian change in developing capitalist countries, says equating a growing population with global hunger is not only incorrect, but creates a


Despite economic recovery, use of food banks at near-record levels

More than 700,000 Canadians turn to food banks every month, and many of them are employed or from two-parent households

Food bank use is at near-record levels and will only come down if there’s an increase in affordable housing, says Food Banks Canada. More than 700,000 Canadians turn to food banks every month because they have “to choose between paying rent or buying food,” said Katherine Schmidt, the organization’s executive director. “At the root of

Do food aid and economic self-interest mix?

The recent decision to merge the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) into the new Department of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Development isn’t the first time Canada’s aid program has been profoundly changed. Five years ago, another major change occurred when Ottawa fully untied Canadian food aid. Then, as now, it was a matter of


Clear rules needed on low-level GM contamination

Clear and reasonable rules for low levels of genetically modified grains and oilseeds need to be part of any Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, Canadian farm leaders told their counterparts from Peru and other countries during a recent trade trip to Lima. “It was a great opportunity to explain to negotiators and other stakeholders why the TPP

A powerful engine for growth

Researchers have discovered an environmentally sustainable instrument that could increase world food production by 30 per cent, but they’ve been having a tough time getting it commercialized. Is it a plant with a novel trait, or a new herbicide perhaps, bogged down by excessive regulations or those silly activists? Or maybe it’s a new type