The latest on the Ontario government’s plan to regulate neonic seed treatments, the avian influenza outbreak in B.C.’s Fraser Valley, changes at the Canadian Grain Commission and a review of the markets, including the sharp drop in feeder cattle futures, over the past week — here’s the TWORA podcast for December 12th: Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify |… Read More

Animosity and mistrust in the food system — or the “agri-food value chain,” as it’s called in some circles — is costing farmers billions of dollars in waste. At a time when the powers-that-be are urging the sector to bolster the economy by pulling together for increased jobs and exports, Oakville-based Value Chain Management International… Read More

Bigger is better. Go big or go home. The push for excess in all things, it seems, knows no bounds. But how big is too big? Or is that the wrong question to ask? From combines, seeding units and land bases, to suburban houses, fast food meals and the cars we drive, there’s been a… Read More

I remember reading an interesting quote that, paraphrased, said society was losing touch with where food came from and that the increase in urbanization was a death knell for rural life. The quote was from the 1920s. Shocking? A little, but it’s also an excellent bit of perspective for where we sit now, nearly 100… Read More

If beef prices at the retail level stay elevated, will consumers pick pork and poultry? Have we topped out on these cattle markets? It’s questions like these that many ranchers and feed yard operators have been thinking about, so in this special “Ask Annie” edition of the Beef Market Update, Shaun Haney went to the audience… Read More

Got a minute? That’s about all it takes to start thinking about agvocating. You never know where your commitment will lead. That’s the word from Greg Peterson, the 23-year-old Internet phenom from the mid-Kansas PetersonFarm Brothers. Some of my University of Guelph agricultural communications students and I were lucky to spend time with Greg earlier… Read More