Owen Roberts is currently in Argentina, attending the IFAJ 2013 Congress. The photo above is courtesy Chuck Zimmerman. View the Flickr account here. Any export-intensive country for agriculture needs to be constantly tuned into global developments that influence what happens inside our own borders. Today, the search for those developments takes us to the backroads… Read More
Category: Ag Policy
Want to bury news? Send out your press release late on a Friday afternoon. You get bonus points if it’s the Friday before a long weekend, and the spokesperson most versed in the subject takes the next week as holidays (I call that the trifecta of bad news sharing). So, when I saw the Manitoba… Read More
As a result of the international Youth Ag Summit, hosted in Calgary, Alberta, a global committee on food security has been formed. The executive (pictured below) is comprised primarily of youth volunteers and will spear-head the continuation of the summit’s discussion around food security. As a part of the Summit’s agenda, delegates and mentors were… Read More
When Bob Dylan appeared at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 playing an electric guitar, he was booed off the stage for being untrue to the genre. Ten years later, country awards named John Denver Entertainer of the Year – to the chagrin of presenter Charlie Rich (“Behind Closed Doors”), who, in front of millions… Read More
Grain Farmers of Ontario, in collaboration with the Ontario Agri Business Association and soybean processors, has announced changes being made to the way soybean drying charges will be calculated under the Agreement for Marketing the Ontario Soybean Crop made under the Farm Products Marketing Act (O. Reg 485/09). According to the new terms, effective September 1,… Read More
You’ve already heard a little bit about the Youth Ag Summit and my second Breakfast Television appearance (the first involving less talk, more dance). I have a little over an hour to try to drum together some of the happenings here at the summit, before we are shuffled back into presentations, sessions, breakout groups and networking…. Read More
On the first anniversary of the launch of the Alberta Wheat Commission (AWC), and following the retirement of Rick Istead from the position, the AWC is pleased to welcome Doug Cornell as the new General Manager. Having developed and honed his skills in both start-up and corporate environments, Cornell is an entrepreneurial manager with an… Read More
Today marks one year since the CWB was stripped of its monopoly. This climax of, oh, 40 years (or more?) of bickering between those for and against the monopoly was a great day for many, but also rather anti-climatic. As RealAgriculture.com shared then, August 1, 2012 dawned with no earthquakes, riots in the streets or… Read More
It’s always a treat to find an economist whose insights and discussions don’t bore you to tears or leave you feeling a wee bit deflated (sorry, economists!). That’s why RealAgriculture.com is always glad to cross paths with Glen Hodgson, senior vice president & chief economist with the Conference Board of Canada, as he’s not just… Read More
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz was in Saskatoon, Sask., today, to announce $15 million worth of further investments to the agriculture industry from the AgroInnovation Program and the new Growing Forward 2 policy framework. “Thanks to the commitment to innovation today and over the years, special crops and pulse industries are well-positioned to capture new market… Read More
As Gary Larson once said, The Chickens are Restless. If you’re not on Twitter, you likely haven’t heard about a growing group of disgruntled farmers taking aim at Panera Bread Company’s cheap shot at conventional agriculture. Cheap shot is perhaps being generous — an entire ad campaign has been built around fear mongering and misinformation,… Read More
Have you heard that Monsanto has been driven out of doing business in Europe? Not so, says the company, though they are changing the business direction in that market. “People have said we are exiting the GMO business in Europe, but we don’t really have a business,” Jose Manuel Madero, Monsanto’s president and managing director… Read More
Good reasons exist to better understand what sustainability means on the farm – and a lot of them have to do with consumers. It’s vital for farmers themselves to know how to best care for the land, water and air in which they produce food. No smoke and mirrors. Unsustainable practices mean trouble in the… Read More
Gerry Ritz was on hand at Richardson’s Kelburn Farms, just south of Winnipeg, today to announce a federal government commitment of $15 million to the canola industry. This funding, through Growing Forward 2, will be leveraged to bump that total to more than $20 million, says Patti Miller, president of the Canola Council of Canada… Read More
A total of 28 research projects focused on expanding or improving barley’s use as feed, food and malt will receive funding under a new Barley National Research Cluster, spearheaded by the Alberta Barley Commission. Newly re-appointed federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz was on hand last week to make the $8 million announcement. “This is a… Read More