Ahead of a presentation I was about to give to dairy farmers in British Columbia, one of the organizers warned me about the chance of a few protestors from the group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) protesting the event. It wasn’t expected to be very large, maybe a dozen people or so,… Read More

Well, it’s official. The busy winter conference season is upon us, and I, for one, couldn’t be happier. This week, the RealAgriculture.com team took in Agri-Trade at Red Deer, Alta., and the first-ever Cereals North America conference. Also on this week was the Royal in Toronto, and though we didn’t make it there, we did… Read More

“There are no facts, only interpretations,” is a common quote I refer to from poet Friedrich Nietzsche. Modernizing the language, I take it as, “Facts don’t matter, only the perception.” The struggle for perception in food is at an all time high. I talked last month about A&W’s perception of what ‘Better Beef’ represents, despite… Read More

Twitter really is an amazing tool. The ability to share information and have conversations with people around the world is one of my favourite parts. But, like everything, there is always a down side. It is a downside across all social media networks that people can say things that aren’t true and can easily mix… Read More

Government cutbacks aren’t surprising for anyone. They’ve been debated, we’ve been warned, and now the axe is falling. Of course that makes words like ‘streamlining’ and ‘efficiency’ go-to terms, even though there is no proof, and instead of loss of local control. The perfect example is news that should be devastating for the entire industry…. Read More

Talk about supply management and whether or not it should fit in Canada’s future continues to find a place in our media. To be honest, whenever I see a link for a National Post article relating to the system for dairy, poultry and eggs, I have a hard time clicking since I can usually guess… Read More

With the final steps toward the ending of the single desk coming ever closer, the ante continues to be upped as the current CWB board fights to gain a hearing. The extremely polarizing debate continues to cause deep divisions amongst producers, even more so in what appear to be the final days of the CWB… Read More

Hog farmers across the country have had it bad for a while. Market crashes, disease and deteriorating consumer confidence have been major issues for pork producers for quite some time.  Running a hog farm is not easy or glamorous. They require an incredible amount of hands on management from farrow to finish. Hogs are hard… Read More