What started as a family-run, grass-fed beef operation near Calgary has grown into a thriving direct-market business focused on full-animal utilization. Lorin and Barry Doerksen of Gemstone Grass Fed Beef say that working with the whole animal, rather than boxes of cuts, is both a challenge and a strength. “It’s a lot different than butcher... Read More
Category: Food
The calendar is sliding into the dog days of summer — and grills across the continent are working overtime. That's good news for cattle markets, and to break down the cash prices, cattle movement, and inventory, we've got host of the Beef Market Update Shaun Haney with Anne Wasko of the Gateway Livestock Exchange. In... Read More
Michael Grunwald didn’t set out to write about agriculture. But after two decades of reporting on environmental policy, the veteran journalist realized the sector’s massive impact on the environment, and his own equally large knowledge gap about farming. His journey to better understand food production resulted in his new book, We Are Eating the Earth,... Read More
Move over, Greenbelt, the Foodbelt has entered the chat. Ontario is losing farmland at an alarming rate of about 319 acres a day, according to provincial data. That’s equivalent to losing an area the size of Kingston every year, says Mike Schreiner, leader of the Ontario Green Party and MPP for Guelph. Losing farmland risks... Read More
The Canadian Centre for Food Integrity (CCFI) has launched a new initiative aimed at enhancing public trust and awareness of the Canadian food system. CCFI executive director Lisa Bishop-Spencer says the program will help reverse a seven-point drop in public confidence over the last year in Canada's food system by increasing public trust and understanding... Read More
Drake Meats has announced plans to build a 53,000 square foot state-of-the-art meat processing facility in Saskatoon, Sask., capable of producing more than eight million kilograms of pork and beef products annually. The family-owned consumer-packaged meat company, founded in 1949 as a co-operative meat locker in Drake, Saskatchewan, produces a vast line of products including... Read More
By Kevin Howe, a fifth-generation fruit and vegetable farmer in Elgin County, Ont. Our family has been farming strawberries in Elgin County, Ontario since 1913 — over 110 years on the same land rotation. To our knowledge, we are the longest generational strawberry farm in the province. That kind of longevity doesn’t come from doing... Read More
It is the first warm day of spring and the smell of a good ribeye steak on the barbecue wafts in from an open window. That familiar scent might make your mouth water, but what truly defines the best-tasting beef? Is it the breed—Angus, Hereford, or Charolais? The feeding system—grass-fed, grain-fed, or grain-finished? Or does... Read More
With the Canadian Grocery Sector Code of Conduct complete, attention now turns to the implementation and education around what the code will and won't provide for industry players. The code was finalized last year and will come into force in June 2025. That means there needs to be a body that overseas the code and... Read More
Agriculture is forever evolving and so is the business of fertilizer and crop nutrition. It's been 20 years since fertilizer heavyweight, The Mosaic Company, was formed by a merger between IMC Global and Cargill's crop nutrition division. The company's mission is to help the world grow the food it needs, says director of new product... Read More