Take it for what it’s worth (a relatively arbitrary list from The Daily Meal), but a recent who’s who of food puts farmers at the bottom of the list when it comes to who influences how and what we eat. The Daily Meal launched its “50 Most Powerful People in Food” list recently, ranking individuals… Read More
Category: Opinion
Today, I have far more questions than answers. At FarmTech, I spoke with one farmer about the Alberta Wheat Commission — its proposed role, its goals, who was involved. It all sounded on the up-and-up and very noble, though I got the sense I had heard the speech before. Before that, in Saskatchewan, I spoke… Read More
It’s quite rare for farmers to be front and centre in mainstream media. Still more rare is to see a speech made in the late 70s start trending on Twitter during the Super Bowl, but that’s exactly what happened. While the game wound down and the 49’ers very nearly made a comeback, you’d think Twitter… Read More
Earlier this week, I lined up an interview with Dr. Jeannie Gilbert, a plant pathologist at AAFC’s Cereal Research Centre, Winnipeg, Man. I wanted to speak with her about the threat of fusarium head blight for 2013 and what farmers can do now to prevent or manage the disease. When I arrived, I soon learned… Read More
I am attending CropWeek 2013 in Saskatoon this week which always involves some great discussions in the sessions and the hallway. I had a grain /seed industry insider ask me a really interesting question today. “Do we really need to re-create the wheel with wheat? Does wheat royalty collection for research really need to be… Read More
For those who didn’t tune in this weekend to an episode of CTV’s W5 on “factory farming”, let me sum it up for you: according to the episode hog farmers are heartless, sadist wretches that abuse and mistreat all their animals. While attacks and misinformation on and about farming practices aren’t rare, this particular program… Read More
After he was re-elected this week as the President of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, Shaun Haney asked Mark Wales his opinion on the overall health of Ontario agriculture. If you cannot see the below embedded video, CLICK HERE
Last week I wrote about the demise of Prop 37, a California bill that called for, among other things, labeling of genetically modified ingredients in food products. It didn’t take long after I posted the story for someone to send me a Tweet containing a link to an online petition. The introduction for the petition… Read More
Yesterday’s re-election of Barack Obama was the big news story, but tucked in amongst all the election fan fair and references to Mitt Romney’s “binders full of women” was news of several bills being passed or defeated. Of particular note to agriculture was Prop 37, a Californian bill that would require labeling of products that… Read More
The 2012 canola crop is not just smaller than expected, it’s also light on oil content. According to the Canadian Grain Commission, this year’s crop is averaging a mean oil content of 43.5% (on a 8.5% moisture basis, No. 1 grade). That’s down quite a bit from last year when it was 45.2%. The 10-year… Read More