To some, animal agriculture is no more than the exploitation of innocent lives, often likened to human slavery, rape and torture. The animals didn’t ask to be confined to cages, separated from their mothers or artificially inseminated, opponents argue. Thus, humans should take on a vegan diet, void of any animal products or by-products. Instead, it’s plants humans… Read More

The amount of data we can collect on farms has grown exponentially over the last decade or two. Whether it’s through yield monitors, images captured by satellites or drones, smartphone apps or RFID sensors, our ability to track and record what’s happening has come a long way from the pocketbooks of earlier generations. And there’s good reason… Read More

There were roughly 95 million cattle in the United States as of July 1, 2014, a 3% drop from 2012 numbers, but that could turn around, according to John Navlinka of Sterling Marketing. “I think we’re beginning to build herds and it’s going to be slow — it’s not going to be a rapid buildup… Read More

2014 started out with a lot of frustration: Grain was hardly moving through Canada as the Great White North experienced some record cold temperatures and record ice cover on the Great Lakes. With the railroads making more money moving oil, elevators couldn’t take deliveries and the amount of ships sitting at the port waiting for… Read More

Guest editorial by Henry Vos, a former Canadian Wheat Board director from Alberta. Editor’s note: This week the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board, a group that includes some former CWB directors, applied to have the Supreme Court hear their appeal to move ahead with a class action lawsuit against the federal government. The $17… Read More

Guest post by Janine Lunn I am happy to see that farming is gaining popular interest. It seems that lately agriculture has become sexy, and I’m relieved to see we’re graduating from the old image of men wearing striped coveralls, straw hats and chewing a stem of wheat. Many non-farmers are now keen to meet… Read More

Rumours are building again that Russia may limit their grain exports (specifically wheat) and the government might start increasing the purchasing price from farmers for the government reserve stocks (the government is definitely worried about rising domestic food prices). This would incentivize producers to sell to the government versus grain merchants/exporters. SovEcon said earlier in… 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

According to John Scott, JM Scott Management Services, gourmet burgers were something born of North America’s 2008 economic downturn. “People went to the hamburger, because it’s a comfort food. And then, over a period of time…people said, ‘you know what, I’d like something a bit better.’” That’s when, as Scott says in the video below, a… Read More

 

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