Farm Credit Canada, along with the Rick Hansen Foundation and Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA), have launched #BackToAg – a social media campaign to help raise money for a new program that helps get injured farmers back to doing what they love best. From May 29 to June 13, Farm Credit Canada, Rick Hansen Foundation,… Read More
Category: Advocacy
Not long ago, farmers thought their main opponents were environmentalists, bent on preventing them from implementing modern techniques and technology. Some considered it a battle against corporatism. But new research suggests that thinking has changed. In Ontario, results are emerging from a poll last winter of 400 farmers by Farm and Food Care, a group… Read More
Last week, Jimmy Kimmel, an American late night talk show host, ran a segment called Pedestrian Question. The topic of the week? — “What is Gluten?” Self-identified gluten-free-lovers were left looking more than a little foolish when they couldn’t actually come up with a decent definition of the naturally occurring protein in wheat and other… Read More
Long-time followers and fans of Real Agriculture know two things: we love to do a conference or show wrap up at most of the events we cover, and, that we usually include incredibly serious, hard hitting news in each of them. Well, that second point may be a bit of a stretch, but the Real… Read More
Is rural Ontario unique – or indispensable? Some would argue both. And a new poll designed to eek out rural priorities suggests they’re right. The poll in question, which opened after the provincial election was called last week and closed yesterday (May 7) at 5 p.m., was led by the Rural Ontario Institute. And while… Read More
The Farm & Food Care Foundation, a national charity with a mandate to ensure public trust and confidence in Canadian food and farming, is launching a Canada-wide farm photo contest with $4,000 in cash prizes available for winners of six categories. Winning photos will be used by the Foundation in a soon-to-be-released 2014 edition of… Read More
On a warm evening last summer, I sat around a backyard barbeque with a number of people my wife works with. This group tends to be quite removed from the farm, naturally because many of them were raised in the city, and now live and work there as well. When discussing where the delicious watermelon… Read More
According to Statistics Canada, in the last decade, farms operated solely by women in Canada has grown from 3.9% to 5%, and women now account for 26% of all farm operators in Canada. And women continue to excel into leadership positions across the agriculture supply chain, as was evident in the number of passionate women who… Read More
On Monday, April 28th, 2014, over 200 people will attend a leadership conference like none other. Hosted in Calgary, the Advancing Women — Leadership in Agriculture conference begins Monday evening ahead of a full-day of sessions focused on setting goals, professional growth and the challenges still ahead for women in agriculture. CLICK HERE FOR THE… Read More
Despite efforts to explain pesticides’ role in modern agriculture, confusion still reigns supreme in the eyes of the public. And no wonder. Pesticides get blamed for a lot of things; most recently, for wiping out bees. That accusation caught the Province of Ontario’s attention last summer and fall, when wildly fluctuating accounts of bee mortality… Read More
Exciting news for youth aged 8-21 in Alberta’s beef industry! If you’re involved in Beef 4-H, junior cattle shows or beef production, you’re eligible to apply for the Alberta Beef Producers’ (ABP) “Young Guns Contest.” The contest, running until May 30, 2014, is looking for applicants to identify what they see as the biggest challenge… Read More
My daughter Kate and I headed out last Sunday afternoon to Kitchener to hear about a new – and what I consider very different – food service being debuted at the storied Walper Hotel. Up the staircase through the doors of the second-floor terrace ballroom, 250 curious guests were lining up at more than a… Read More
We’re all consumers. We buy cars and trucks, clothes and electronics, seed and fertilizer, food and drinks. About 2% of the population, farmers, also create a very personal consumable — food and food ingredients. Roughly 8% of our population, that is the amount of us involved in the agriculture industry, have a pretty good handle… Read More
100 years ago, Norman Borlaug was born. An American scientist and researcher, Borlaug won the Noble Peace Prize in 1970 for his lifetime of work aimed at feeding the hungry through advancements in agriculture. Today, dubbed AgDay in the U.S., Borlaug will be honoured with a statue unveiled in the nation’s capitol, and research organizations… Read More
If agriculture is going to work towards providing quality food for informed consumers, we can’t be throwing each production system under the bus. Conventional agriculture needs to respect organic production as a valid production system (and a valid consumer choice), and organic producers need to stop vilifying conventional production and using misleading and down-right false… Read More