By Karen Lewis In year two of its existence, the wheat and barley check-off continues to provide producers with a significant “bang for their buck” supporting the growth of the agricultural industry. The five-year federal check-off enables producers to continue supporting the work conducted by the Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF), Canadian International Grains Institute... Read More

By Cheyenne Stapley This post first appeared on Stapley's blog Little Prairie Baby. Visit the blog here. Editor's note: According to the ESRD, there are currently 980 feral horses on the Southern East Slopes alone; it is suspected this number is actually low. Currently in Alberta there are capture permits out to cull some of... Read More

The words “Made in Canada branding campaign” had hardly dried on the page of federal finance minister Jim Flaherty’s Economic Action Plan last week before marketing experts started taking shots at it…even though they didn’t know what it was about. They couldn’t know, because the government itself didn’t — all the budget contained was one... Read More

It's stated twice, in 2007 and 2012: the $58-million research partnership between the University of Guelph and what is now the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Ministry of Rural Affairs has an annual economic impact of more than $1.1 billion on the province. That’s a $58-million annual investment, and a $1.1-billion return.... Read More

With over 100 years of breeding new varieties at public institutions Drs. Keith Downey (Saskatoon AAFC Research Centre) and Bryan Harvey (University of Saskatchewan) are pleased to see the recently tabled Agricultural Growth Act (Bill C-18). It enshrines a farmer’s ability to save seed for his or her own use and protects against the capture... Read More

First, an apology. Eagle-eyed RealAgriculture readers will note that this column was absent last week. After three days at FarmTech '14 there was more than enough to share, but no time to do it, so I'll work some of last week into this, if you don't mind. It's no secret I like trains. Furthermore, I... Read More

The U.S. Senate passed the 956 page, $956.4 billion Farm Bill on Tuesday, following last week's House approval, and is now awaiting President Barack Obama's signature. The bill has been hugely controversial for many reasons, including Country of Origin Labeling (COOL), which remained in the 2014 Farm Bill despite reaction from eight major lobby groups... Read More

Taiwan and Canada have signed an arrangement to expand market access to include Canadian bone-in beef and other specified beef products from animals under 30 months of age (UTM), according to an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada press release. The arrangement will level the playing field for Canadian beef producers and generate export opportunities to the... Read More