Much has changed on the Ontario soil conservation front since 1987. No-till farming has been firmly entrenched, most farms in the province now proudly tout their own Environmental Farm Plan, and soil health is recognized as key to a $13 billion food economy that fuels 800,000 jobs. It’s a 30-year journey that Harold Rudy captures… Read more »
Category: Features
Exploding Sprayer Myths: Prevent spray drift, eh!
The Spray Guys are back with a Canadian culture mash up that sees them reprise the roles of Bob and Doug McKenzie, everybody’s favourite beer drinking duo. In this episode of Exploding Spray Myths, our two hosers, played by Jason Deveau and Tom Wolf, somehow manage to jerry-rig a satellite hot stove lounge where they interview… Read more »
Left on the Desk, Oct 27: The bridge, food delivery, and trade victory laps
It has been great to be back this week writing stories for RealAgriuclture.com and hosting RealAg Radio. Time away with family is such an incredibly important component of recharging before the next big run that we see in front of us. As usual this week’s “Left on the Desk” features a scattering of tidbits, slices… Read more »
Left on the desk, Oct 20: Mad cow, subsidies, family feuds, and touring the BBC
Left on the Desk is back this week, bringing you content that caught my attention, but didn’t make it on to the site. This week, I was on vacation visiting family in the UK, but the world waits for no one, so let’s get ready for the info, tidbits, and scattering of information that was left… Read more »
Left on the desk, Oct 5: Dropping turkeys, ancient grains, and white carrots
What a week in the news for Canada and around the world. It’s hard to write about everything when the news falls like a snow squall covering your desk like an early snowfall. The purpose of this column is to get through the pile of paper that was “Left on the Desk.” This week I promise… Read more »
Left on the desk, Sept 22: Go Fund Me farms, Costco delivery, and Canada’s pot bonanza
It has been a very crazy week in the world of economics, politics, and news. Thank you for all of your feedback on this column in the past and please keep it coming. I love interacting with you and getting your thoughts on all the issues impacting agriculture. You can email me at [email protected] Here… Read more »
Left on the desk, Sept 7: Grumpy Germans, Chinese frustration, and interest in Argentina
After a one week hiatus, I am back trying to get my desk uncluttered by covering many of the issues Left on the Desk this long weekend shortened week. Lets dig deep into the pile and explore some cool pieces of data, random facts and weave some of it together. Have a great weekend everyone… Read more »
Left on the desk, Aug 25: Raw meat, universal blood and spilt milk
Unless you were under a rock, this was a wild week in politics, trade and agriculture in both Canada and the United States. It’s like Canadians and Americans are competing for the headlines on an hour to hour basis. It’s that time of the week where we connect some dots with all the the info, data,… Read more »
Beef Market Update: A lot of mouths to feed
You might be forgiven for thinking that every fall is the same when it comes to cattle leaving the summer range and heading off to the auction ring. Every fall is different and every fall farmers study the markets to see how they can best react to what they see coming up. Anne Wasko, market… Read more »
Left on the desk, Aug 18: Banned diesels, BRICS, and activist BS
It has been another very busy week in the world of news impacting agriculture. It’s also been a very turbulent couple weeks for farmers and consumers on the crop protection front as glyphosate and neonics have been in the news regularly. Let’s connect some dots with all the the info, data, and fast facts “left… Read more »
Left on the desk, Aug 10: Disappearing prime ministers, Saudi relations, and hot swaths
We are back for week two of Left on the Desk, my weekly attempt to clear my desk of all paper, data points, and extraneous information so I can start next week fresh. I got some great feedback on the new column last week so I thought it was enough encouragement to give week two… Read more »
Beef School, Ep 10: Planning for your priorities in grazing management
A grazing plan doesn’t have to be all or nothing — some ranchers will use set-stock grazing, rotational grazing, and any combination of corn, swath, or stock-piled grazing. The key is to figure out what you’re trying to accomplish, then use the strategy that’s best suited to your land base, calving season, and labour availability…. Read more »
An unforgettable sight — the record-breaking Harvest for Kids
303 combines created an unforgettable sight (and sound) on August 4th near Winkler, Manitoba, as they set a new Guinness record for most combine harvesters working simultaneously in a field. The Harvest for Kids was organized to raise awareness and funds for Children’s Camps International. Read/hear more: 303 combines set new Guinness record in Winkler, Manitoba… Read more »
Left on the desk — Aug 4, 2018
Every week I end up with a massive pile of tidbits, data points, interesting perspectives and stories that I don’t get around to writing about. Instead, they end up in a massive pile on my desk. In an effort to deal with the inability to find a pen in this haystack of paper, Kelvin has… Read more »
Beef Market Update: Quiet trade week as we get closer to the halfway point of summer
As our beef market expert Anne Wasko puts it, ‘It was the dog days of summer —but for the beef industry’ last week. It was a quiet trade week, and the cattle that did trade looked about $2 lower than the average price this year — however, it’s not a big surprise due to the… Read more »