The P&H Milling Group, with support from the Ontario government, is building the first flour mill in Ontario in 75 years. Ontario Minister of Agriculture Jeff Leal made the announcement on Monday at Parrish & Heimbecker’s Hamilton Harbour location, where the new bulk mill is expected to commence operation in 2016. The expansion will allow… Read More
Year: 2015
The debate whether Alberta farmers and ranchers need Bill 6 is being discussed in full at the town halls, the rallies, in all social media channels and on RealAgriculture.com. We thought it would be interesting to look at Bill 6 through a different lens — through the lens of an experienced political expert. What about… Read More
It was another busy few days for Farm Forum Event attendees in Saskatoon last week. The conference featured Saskatchewan’s own Brent Butt as the opening act, followed by an incredible lineup of speakers, including Kevin Folta, Jon Entine and Mike Boehlje. Related: Agri-Trend to be Bought by Trimble But why read a note from us trying to wrap… Read More
The World Trade Organization has given Canada and Mexico the go-ahead to retaliate against the U.S. for the discrimination caused by American country of origin meat labeling rules. The arbitrators’ decision issued Monday gave Canada permission to implement retaliatory tariffs worth up to C$1.055 billion per year. While the approved figure is less than the C$3.1 billion… Read More
In the day-to-day operation of a farm it can be a challenge to set aside time to chat about what the next generation expects in taking over the business. “Hey Mom/Dad/Uncle… I want you to know this is important…” sort of discussions are important because they help establish expectations, which are needed to begin a successful generational transition. So… Read More
As the Bill 6 debate continues in Alberta, Real Agriculture is taking a look at how other provinces regulate farm labour, health and safety. Are there lessons to be learned from how other provincial legislation was developed and how it’s constructed? Let’s take a look at Ontario. In June 2006, Ontario agriculture was brought under… Read More
I’m not surprised that Alberta farmers railed against Bill 6. Usually, the status quo is easier to live with than change, particularly imposed change. And in the case of Bill 6, change would occur in everything from farm culture to the bottom line. It still might. But hopefully, not to the same extent. In response… Read More
It’s the time of year for holiday traditions, which for some families means heading out to pick a Christmas tree. Today is recognized as “Christmas Tree Day.” The occasion is official in Ontario, as Bill 16, which was passed by the province earlier this year, bestows the title of on the first Saturday of December. Ontario has… Read More
While grains ended the month of November with little fanfare, the first trading week of December proved to have some push to the upside despite a number of reports that didn’t really change any fundamentals. Soyoil led the complex with a 10.5% gain for the week, which helped support canola prices (+2.25% for the week)… Read More
Haven’t we seen this before? Traders and analysts were expecting Statistics Canada to peg the 2015 canola crop at around 15.6 million tonnes in the agency’s latest production report released Friday morning. Pre-report guesses ranged between 14.5 and 16.4 million. Most farmers reported better than expected canola yields at harvest, so everybody was expecting the… Read More
The Alberta government’s omnibus Bill 6 would impact farms and ranches by making Workers Compensation Board coverage mandatory, providing Occupational Health & Safety regulation in agriculture, implementing new labor laws and giving farm workers the ability to unionize. While the bill would affect agriculture, some of the complications in the communication of Bill 6 details are due to the… Read More
Imagine if robots could both identify and destroy weeds. Well, Bosch Deepfield Robotics is well on its way to making that dream a reality. The company, only one year old, has developed a four wheel multi-purpose robotic platform called BoniRob. It navigates along plant rows, running on batteries or connected to a generator, logging data, or… Read More
Is your farm secure? That’s a question farmers need to ask themselves says security specialist Larry Wallace. As traditional rural farm communities become more urban, farms become larger and valuable equipment fills yards and drive sheds. That means farmers need to be more diligent in their security practices, says Wallace, who founded Wallace Risk Management… Read More
Lynn Jacobson, president of the Alberta Federation of Agriculture, joins us on this week’s TWORA to discuss his views on Bill 6, as we also cover some other noteworthy news stories from the past week: Listen to the TWORA podcast every Thursday! Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | All Podcasts
Saskatchewan Pulse Growers has announced Gerrid Gust of Davidson and Trent Richards of Assiniboia have been elected to the SPG Board of Directors. There were 1018 votes cast in the election, almost all of which were registered using the online voting platform that SPG launched this year. “Growers have told us they wanted an easier… Read More