When it comes to Canada’s $27-billion food waste problem, what’s actionable on your farm? How can you take measures to reduce it…and should you bother? Martin Gooch thinks so. On behalf of his firm, Value Chain Management International, he’s co-authored a new study, Developing an Industry-Led Approach to Addressing Food Waste in Canada, to try… Read More

Kansas-based Peterson Farm Brothers — Gregory, Nathan and Kendal — haven’t just put together a fun new parody video, but they’re also using their music and blog to help share a message of environmental stewardship and sustainability. The latest song, “All I do is Farm,” seen below, is just as much fun as past parodies, but… Read More

The hazards to feeding livestock mycotoxin-contaminated feed seem to be on everyone’s radar, with some very recent issues of ergot poisoning occurring across the prairies. But perhaps some of the lesser communicated risks are those that endanger the health of the very people who work with these feeds. Related: The Feed Industry’s Challenge with Mycotoxins… Read More

By now, you’ve likely heard about or seen an ‘undercover’ video that shows terrible abuse of dairy cows on a farm in British Columbia. In the disturbing video, cows are kicked, caned or beaten up simply because they were weaker than the young workers. After that video release, dairy farmers across the country did something… Read More

Many people have opinions about what developing countries need to prosper in food production. Some insist on more local autonomy for farmers, and less Western influence.  After all, people in what are now considered developing countries survived for thousands of years before Western wisdom arrived, they say. Such thinkers  believe we should turn back the… Read More

Talking about food and farm practices, there is never a shortage of ideas and opinions. I’m actually starting to wonder if we have surpassed the level of passion for food that politics once took up. After all, with voter turn-out continuously in a free fall, I wonder if instead we now focus on all the… Read More

Waking to the clatter of wind against the house, a dark sky and a still-sleeping sun never feels like a good omen. On June 5th, the early morning grey was entirely worth the effort, as I joined the Alberta Farm Writers’ Association on their annual tour. 1st Stop: Lakeland College Our first stop continued the northward… Read More

Another day, another petition pushing for a ban of biotechnology in a region. The latest that crossed my desk is one out of Prince Edward Island, seeking support to convert the entire island-province to organic production, banning GMOs and non-organic-approved pesticides. There’s choosing not to consume GMOs (genetically modified organisms) or support conventional agriculture —… Read More

If you have any Farmers Feed Cities memorabilia hanging around, treat it with respect. As of Monday, it became collectible. Just as the first ever Local Food Week was getting underway in Ontario, Farmers Feed Cities, one of the most successful agriculture awareness programs in recent memory, wound down. The Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO),… Read More

Four years of micro-analysis in Uganda and Ethiopia led up to April’s publication by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at London University: Fairtrade, Employment and Poverty Reduction in Ethiopia and Uganda (FTEPR) Final Report. The report, a detailed account of various plantations in both countries, suggests that perhaps “Fairtrade” coffee isn’t so fair after all. “Fairtrade may… Read More

There’s a right way and a wrong way to get rid of treated seed. Using up most of what you have is a logical first step, but even the few kernels left in bins, trucks or augers could cause you major headaches down the line. Canada’s grain handling system has a zero tolerance level for… Read More

 

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