It seems that when the spring hits each year, images start showing up on social media asking if a newly discovered arachnid might be a tick. While ticks have been a common sight in Ontario and Manitoba for a while now, they seem to be venturing further west as they travel on migratory birds. Along... Read More
Category: Farm Management
A dairy worker in Michigan is the second person to test positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus circulating in American dairy cow herds. The first case of human infection associated with this dairy herd infection of HPAI was detected in Texas in March. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says... Read More
Unless you count volcanic eruptions out at sea (and we don't), every year there are fewer and fewer acres available for growing food, building houses, or setting aside for habitat. The decision of what should be built where or how land should be used is a complicated, complex, and controversial topic. In this episode of... Read More
There are many priorities that influence how land is used — the need for housing and economic development often drives the conversion of farmland and natural habitat into urban or suburban landscapes, but food security, productivity, biodiversity, crop or livestock prices, renewable energy policy, and of course, NIMBYism are among the many factors that can... Read More
Researchers have been collecting soil health data across the Prairies for almost a century. In that time we have learned a lot about agricultural best management practices (BMPs), the environment, and the ground beneath our feet. In all of this research we have, and continue to, accumulate an abundance of data, the majority of it... Read More
Farm Credit Canada (FCC) is not new to the venture capital space, however a shift in focus for the Crown corp will see the lender take a more direct approach to ven cap funding in agriculture. Justine Hendricks, CEO of FCC, says the move is prompted by the changing needs of the industry. Whether driven... Read More
For the late April intake of the Canadian Farmer Sentiment Index survey, RealAgristudies asked the Insights Panel some hard-hitting questions, such as "Who do you NOT want to win the Stanley Cup?" From there, though, we jumped back in to the same questions asked in previous surveys to plot a trend line for several topics... Read More
Last month, the Thrall family announced it had reached an agreement to protect the over 54,000 acres of native grasslands in southern Alberta that make up the historic McIntyre Ranch through a conservation easement with the Nature Conservancy of Canada and Ducks Unlimited. This makes the ranch the largest piece of privately-owned grasslands to be... Read More
Six of Canada's biggest business and industry associations, including the Canadian Canola Growers Association (CCGA), have written a joint letter to Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland asking her to scrap a proposed change to capital gains tax announced in the federal budget last month. In addition to the CCGA, the May 9th... Read More
When it comes to agriculture and the environment, some people see agriculture as a solution, while others view it as a problem. And in politics, people with different perspectives and levels of awareness about farming often sit in the same caucus or cabinet, influencing where a party stands on environmental policies that affect agriculture. Canada's... Read More