Sheep farmer Sandi Brock might look a little familiar, if you’re keen on YouTube and Instagram. The Staffa, Ont. farmer was raised on a dairy farm, worked on a broiler breeder farm, and then eventually chose sheep as the livestock venture to diversify her grain enterprise. Brock learned so much in those first years of… Read More
A new mobile app is under development to help farmers track their mental health and link them with supports, says the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture. The app is the result of a partnership between Innovation Saskatchewan, the Ministry of Agriculture, and Bridges Health, out of Saskatoon, after being selected out of the province-wide Innovation Challenge… Read More
Nearly 500 farmers and farm businesses were emailed a letter in late June informing them of a request through the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) for a list of business names and Farm Business Registration Numbers (FBRN). Several farmers have publicly addressed concern over the release of this information and the… Read More
It’s tough to come up with a technical description for what Ellen Pruden really does. A long-time agricultural educator and advocate, her job title says she’s the director for the Canola Eat Well program, which she leads out of the Manitoba Canola Growers Association office. But beyond that, her enthusiasm for sharing farmers’ stories has… Read More
In the interest of the safety and well-being of Canadian Young Speakers for Agriculture (CYSA) participants, family members, and CYSA volunteers, CYSA has canceled the 2020 public speaking competition due to concerns over the spread of coronavirus and potential challenges of inter-provincial travel. Canadian Young Speakers for Agriculture is a national, bilingual competition that provides… Read More
In the context of what’s going on in the world today, I have to say this is an absolutely tiny problem. But it’s also a problem that everyone involved would like to have fixed, and it’s fairly easy to do something about it. So here goes: To start, this involves chickens, and news stories that… Read More
While there is plenty of attention on the growing beef processing crisis in Western Canada, beef producers in Eastern Canada are also struggling with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO) has published a video request of the federal government, which includes several voices from the beef industry’s eastern producers… Read More
What has a bigger impact on the environment: a car or a cow? That was just one of the 20 questions professional home economist Mairlyn Smith asked people on the streets of Toronto last fall, in a film project called “Beef on the Street.” The project, initiated by the Alberta Beef Producers and Alberta Cattle… Read More
It’s not often farms get a chance to host top executives from a huge company; so when the opportunity knocks, you open the door — or in this case, the barn door. For Creekside Dairy’s Julaine Treur and her husband Johannes, a sixth generation dairy farmer, their moment came when they got the chance to… Read More
While many farmers get frustrated by the average consumer’s lack of knowledge about how food gets grown, many farmers aren’t super keen to start a YouTube channel and take on all the editing, uploading, fielding of trolls, and more. That isn’t entirely necessary, says Zach Johnson (@FarmMillennial on social media), though he is one of… Read More
While eastern Ontario is expected up to 50 cm of snow over the next few days, other parts of the province are starting to tap maple trees and get the frost-seeding equipment ready. It may be the last week of February, but there’s some serious spring fever happening all over the country! In the west,… Read More
Podcasts have been around a very long time, but their mainstream adoption — and open-arm welcome from farmers and ranchers — is a recent phenomenon. Will Evans, a farmer from the UK, hosts the Rock and Roll Farming podcasts from his farm in Wales, and as he approaches his third year of doing so, he… Read More
The Canola Council of Canada is taking heat over participating in a research project where Ducks Unlimited Canada is also a supporter. While I adore social media for all its advantages, at times it can be an absolute cesspool of nastiness, knee-jerk reactions, and blowing something way out of proportion before getting even a few… Read More
If 2019 was the year of plant-based protein, perhaps 2020 can be the year of celebrating choice. Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, with Dalhousie University, recently spoke at the CropSphere conference at Saskatoon, Sask., about food choices, plant-based protein, and consumer trends. Overall, he says, plant protein made a huge splash in 2019 as evidenced by several… Read More
How is agriculture and food production impacting the planet? Many naysayers believe our farming and food system is taking its toll, linking agriculture to 10 to 15 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, while painting it as a resource hog that gobbles up 40 percent of the earth’s land base and 70 percent of its… Read More