It’s a humid Chicago evening, and I’m here vacationing with my family, drooling over a deep-dish pizza at Pizano’s noisy outdoor patio near Millennium Park, down the street from what’s commonly called the bean. Rain swept through the area earlier, and now that sticky Great Lakes weather is all over us. Indeed, it’s summer at its best. I love… Read More

Cereals Canada is reminding producers and the grain industry to take steps to keep unwanted products and material out of Canadian grain. The group, which represents stakeholders from the wheat, barley and oat supply chains, has launched the “Keep it Clean — Cereals” campaign, building off similar messaging from the Canola Council of Canada. “There is a growing… Read More

Significant changes are coming to Ontario’s rules regarding small-scale chicken production. Until now, any individual could raise up to 300 birds per year under the Chicken Farmers of Ontario small flock program, a program with the intention of allowing families to raise a few chickens for themselves without requiring the purchase of production quota. Expanding… Read More

I hope you have time to take a look around at the agricultural landscape this holiday weekend, and celebrate Food Day Canada as we’ve known it over the past decade or so. Because in another 12 months, our nation’s agri-food culture could feel much different. Food Day Canada is described by its founder, culinary pioneer… Read More

I always get a kick out of stories about the aging farm population, stories that begin something like “Canadian farmers are getting older…” It makes you wonder if, in some other occupations, people are actually getting younger. Of course they’re not. It’s all about average age. And further, it’s not a measure of quality, which… Read More

On May 21, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency warned consumers of a possible food tampering situation where needles and nails appeared to be showing up in potatoes, primarily in our Atlantic provinces. And this week, the growing concern of food and farm tampering was on the agenda, as federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers converged… Read More

What makes a fair marketplace? Whether you are here on the farm or catching a city cab, marketplace dynamics are a hot topic these days. Taxi drivers in Toronto are at their wits end as the popular ride-sharing site UberX is sucking up business. Unlike two taxi companies competing for business, UberX and cab companies… Read More

To its peril, Canada’s agri-food industry – and indeed, all of Canada — has chugged along for more than a century without a comprehensive agri-food strategy. You’d think whoever is running Ottawa would have made it a priority, given we are active internationally exporting food and so dependent on imports. Consider the consequences if the… Read More

Whether it’s growing demand for protein or pressure to reduce carbon footprints in the food chain, pulses appear well-positioned to benefit from global food trends. As the largest pea and lentil exporter in the world, Western Canada stands to become the “protein basket of the world,” says Murad Al Katib, president and CEO of Regina-based AGT… Read More