Recently, I was asked to speak at the Alberta Ag Services Board's 70th annual meeting. The theme centered around change and all that agriculture had evolved through in the last 70 years. From horse-drawn implements, to variable rate, sectional control-equipped seeding equipment, the last 70 years has literally been a technological revolution in producing food.... Read More
Category: Eastern Canada
Sometimes it’s the little things that go unnoticed that actually have a big impact. Who hasn’t been waylaid by one tiny little part that breaks or goes missing? Big-picture considerations are important too, but the devil, as they say, is in the details. When it comes to spraying, details can easily be overlooked. When’s the... Read More
Agriculture’s global profile got a boost last year thanks to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization deeming 2014 the International Year of Family Farming. Journalists wrote enlightening stories about the fact that nearly all Canadian farms are family owned. Politicians spoke in glowing terms about the economic, social and cultural contributions made by family... Read More
Mark Wales, a horticulture farmer from Elgin County, Ontario, has been named as the chairperson for the Agriculture and Agri-Food Labour Task Force (LTF). The LTF is moving forward with recommendations set out in its Agriculture and Agri-Food Labour Action Plan to address agricultural industry worker shortages. Wales is also the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource... Read More
Consistent droplet size and canopy penetration are two key points of getting the most out of your spray application (assuming you're after leaf coverage, of course). Sending spray droplets where you actually want them to go is much harder than it sounds — part of the reason for that is air movement and turbulence as... Read More
Peter Johnson will be the first to tell you he’s not retiring — he’s just retiring from his role as cereal specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. So while we won’t be completely rid of Wheat Pete, as he’s known, his departure from the ministry still deserves a send-off befitting... Read More
North Americans can and do choose to spend 30% or more on organic or market-differentiated food because we can. We're an incredibly wealthy society, by and large, and are only required to spend about 8% of our income on food. So does that give us the right to condemn those who can't afford to pay... Read More
A Canadian winter can seem endless, with few hours of daylight and many hours of shoveling snow. This year, I vowed to stave off the winter blues (as needless as that now seems). Besides taking the time to exercise and eat well (especially post-Christmas), I've also been focusing more on finding the beauty in the... Read More
Grain prices continued to slide on the futures boards through the middle of January as the complex continues to sort through supply and demand tables (the former, supply, being more plentiful at this point in time). Mostly, grain markets are feeling the effects of a strong U.S. dollar, while other currencies are suffering due to... Read More
This week, TWORA's guest host with the gruff voice, Debra Murphy, gives highlights of some of the news from the Alberta Beef Producers and a recent funding announcement at the Saskatchewan Beef Industry Conference. She also hears from Lyndsey and Shaun, who were out of the office this week on adventures to tropical Alberta and... Read More