Intellectual power required to optimize many on-farm decisions has moved beyond human capacity, which is quite the statement. Even the smartest farmer can only “scale-up” their thinking to a certain extent when they’re handling large acres. At some point, that farmer will have to make so many complex and nuanced decisions that other tools will… Read More
Yield maps aren’t the only data points to collect and analyze. Farms generate all sorts of information that could be useful in determining profit, wasted time or resources, or identifying opportunity. The trouble is, some farms are either generating data with no clear means of using it, or are missing out on capturing simple data… Read More
Everywhere you turn in the past five months, people have been having conversations about how life is different during the pandemic, but dare I say, it hasn’t changed a whole lot, when it comes to many farmers’ schedules. For now. With some notable exceptions for those with school-aged children, hogs or cattle that can’t be… Read More
Hi, my name is Kara, and my go-to conversation topic, if it’s not agriculture, is music. I live and breathe music. I believe it’s something that can bring people together in ways that other things simply can’t. Recently, I took to Twitter asking our readers and listeners to send me their favourite tunes as many… Read More
You can’t pour from an empty cup. Put another way, if you can’t take care of you, you can’t take care of others, including livestock. The connection between farmers’ own mental wellness and livestock care is a direct link; in many cases of animal welfare complaints, the root cause is a stressed and/or mentally ill… Read More
The Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA) has announced it will be administering federal cash advance payments for Manitoba farmers, assuming a service that had been offered by the provincial corn growers association. The new multi-commodity group was formed as of August 1, 2020 following the amalgamation of five Manitoba commodity groups, including the Manitoba Corn Growers… Read More
Emotion, money, and legacy are three factors that can potentially contribute to a very bumpy farm business succession. A farm transition doesn’t have to end badly, but too often farm families ignore best practices for a succession, based on the illusion that your farm is different from everyone else’s. While every farm is unique in… Read More
Farming today is challenging on many levels, and that includes management of the entire farm. With the added complexities of volatile markets, increasing uncertainty, and the traditional risk of making a living off the weather, farmers and ranchers need to act as multi-talented CEOs on a daily basis. The challenge is that it is incredibly… Read More
The impact of COVID-19 on the livestock industry has been severe. There were weeks of packers operating at half to no slaughter capacity, market-ready cattle waiting to get on a truck, and the food service sector being crippled due to closures. One of the measures suggested to help mitigate the financial strain by the cattle… Read More
The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW Canada) recently presented to the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit to advocate for better health and safety protections for migrant workers labouring in the Windsor, Ont., area. The county and area has been hard hit by COVID-19 at local farms and farm businesses, including hundreds of positive cases… Read More
With nearly all farm shows and in-person events cancelled or moved online, a community event is rather rare this time of year. And that’s proving rather challenging for many rural communities who are so used to using the warm summer field days as a way to learn, connect, and maybe even commiserate in the beverage… Read More
Premier Doug Ford set up at Lambton-Kent-Middlesex-area Carven Farms to announce not only the province’s $7 billion share of the federal $19 billion “safe re-start” of the economy, but also to announce the planned bump to Ontario’s risk management programs would go ahead a year early. The federal transfer payment is to cover health care,… Read More
Recent restrictions placed on the temporary foreign worker (TFW) program in Canada have revealed the fragility of the Canadian food supply chain according to a new report from Robert Falconer, policy analyst with the University of Calgary’s Simpson Centre School of Public Policy. Falconer recently joined Shaun Haney on RealAg Radio to discuss the report,… 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
If you’re frustrated by how government support programs are designed or overwhelmed by navigating the paperwork, you’re certainly not alone. The numbers speak for themselves — enrolment in the main suite of federal programs has been dropping steadily for years. A recent letter from the Standing Committee on Agriculture to the Minister of Agriculture and… Read More
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