Richard Phillips is the Executive Director of the Grain Growers of Canada and he is a very busy man these days with all the things going on in the grain industry. Richard was apart of a panel discussion at the SaskSeed annual meeting at CropWeek. The panel discussion was about whether or not the grain… Read More
Category: Ag Policy
Yesterday, I was at GrowCanada Conference 2009 in Calgary and was very fortunate to hear Dr. Prem Warrior from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation speak about agriculture’s role in solving global poverty. Dr. Warrior discussed the reality of global poverty being concentrated in South Asia and Sub Saharan Africa. In fact, 78% of the… Read More
Over the weekend, a story broke about the privacy leaks by the Canadian Wheat Board to third parties such as Revenue Canada and grain companies. The most controversial of issues around this is not the information that was supplied but that the CWB could not provide a good reason as to why the information was… Read More
This is part two of my interview with the President and CEO of the Alberta Livestock Meat Agency (ALMA), Gordon Cove. In this interview I asked questions provided to me by producers. I gathered questions from Twitter and Agriville and asked them in no particular order to Mr. Cove. I would suggest that many people at the… Read More
When an industry struggles financially, it becomes necessary to re-evaluate how business is done. The beef industry has struggled since the discovery of BSE in 2003 and the pork industry has felt the financial pain from the H1N1 pandemic. One solution being circulated in the coffee shops across the country is to make either of… Read More
I was fortunate earlier this week to meet with the President & CEO of the Alberta Livestock Meat Agency, Gordon Cove. My interview is broken into two parts and I hope that you find it interesting and look upon it objectively. No matter where your meat politics reside you have to admit that the Alberta… Read More
It seems that trade issues are at the forefront right now in Canadian agriculture. We have country of origin labelling (COOL) and a volatile Canadian dollar to keep us busy. We now also have a serious situation in China where the Chinese have decided Canadian canola may be not fit to enter Chinese ports without… Read More
This was originally written by Lillian Schaer on her blog “Food and Farming Canada“ This post is a continuation from yesterday€™s H1N1 topic that explored Alberta Pork€™s experiences at the centre of the H1N1 media storm earlier this year. The information is based on a presentation I attended by Lee Funke of Torque Communications at… Read More
Every stream of media has covered and analyzed the economic turmoil that the globe has experienced over the past twelve months. I have heard more and more that people believe that agriculture is immune to any downturn in the economy. Is there such a thing? Is it possible that agriculture is one of the special… Read More
There was a time when agriculture and food were sacred topics to the public. People were either on the farm or one generation removed which instilled a connection to the source of the food that we eat. In the past five years that has definitely changed as many food activists have begun attacking the large… Read More
I recently traveled to Ontario to attend some meetings that pertained to my seed business. I had a great time and was hosted by some great companies and people. The real treat was getting to spend some time with local retailers and farmers from all over Ontario. I always enjoy spending time with farmers and… Read More
The US dairy industry is really struggling to survive. Milk prices are depreciated which is causing significant financial hardship. In Canada, this seems to a bit of a foreign concept considering that Canadian dairies are supply managed. The current situation will definitely provide argument from the US to file to WTO and will entice Canadian… Read More
The following is the official press release from AFSC on the Cattle Price Insurance Program CPIP. This truly is a revolutionary program that will allow Albertan cattle feeders to hedge some risk. I have not fully investigated the nuts and bolts of the program but I think on the surface it is a great step… Read More
I had a subscription to TIME magazine and I will be cancelling it based on the unfounded rhetoric the magazine has recently published. Writer Brian Walsh penned the cover story entitled, “The Real Cost of Cheap Food.” To say that this one sided article has raised the ire of the agricultural industry would be an… Read More
The following article was originally from SiemensSays.com. I think it is a very insightful analysis into the recent announcements in the pork industry. Loan guarantees will help some producers. But, what is the criteria for a viable hog operation? The Canadian industry is currently losing $30 million a week. The situation is deteriorating daily. The… Read More