Christie Young is the Executive Director of FarmSmart and this week she has created some stir within the Canadian Agriculture industry by saying that our industry is not prepared for the coming mass farmer retirements. What has really caused the stir is her statement that the government has some sort of responsibility to ensure we prepare… Read More
Macleans Magazine website has been surveying the general public on the future of supply management. With Primeminister Harper suggesting that all things are on the table, the media has really picked up the debate on the future of supply management in Canada. Vote in the Macleans Poll With Harper suggesting taht everything is on the… Read More
Over the past few years, rural Alberta has seen some expansion. Some are people from other provinces or abroad who found work here, some are children of farmers going into business for themselves, and some just want out of the city. Many of those people dream about a quiet country life, away from the noise… Read More
In early January, I was fortunate to be invited to be involved in a panel discussion on AgVisonTV hosted by Kevin Stewart. The topic was farm debt and was it was a great experience. I was joined on the panel by Dr. George Brinkman, a retired agricultural economist at Guelph University and Dina Cover, an Economist at… Read More
This is part two of my interview with the President and CEO of the Alberta Livestock Meat Agency (ALMA), Gordon Cove. In this interview I asked questions provided to me by producers. I gathered questions from Twitter and Agriville and asked them in no particular order to Mr. Cove. I would suggest that many people at the… Read More
I was fortunate earlier this week to meet with the President & CEO of the Alberta Livestock Meat Agency, Gordon Cove. My interview is broken into two parts and I hope that you find it interesting and look upon it objectively. No matter where your meat politics reside you have to admit that the Alberta… Read More
The following article was originally from SiemensSays.com. I think it is a very insightful analysis into the recent announcements in the pork industry. Loan guarantees will help some producers. But, what is the criteria for a viable hog operation? The Canadian industry is currently losing $30 million a week. The situation is deteriorating daily. The… Read More
Talking to hog producers in Manitoba, there is a real head scratching issue taking place. Hog producers are strongly criticizing the provincial government for not stepping up to compensate hog farmers for this terrible economic environment. The province think that it is a Federal government issue but others disagree. My friend journalism friend Harry Siemens… Read More
I have been getting a number of calls from feedlot producers to discuss the new Cattle Price Insurance Program (CPIP) that will be launched by AFSC this summer for Albertan cattle feeders. I talked to Susan Crump, Senior Project Manager, Program Development and Policy at AFSC about some of the preliminary details of the coming… Read More
Yesterday, Rick Cassson, MP Lethbridge hosted Federal Agricultural Minister, Gerry Ritz in Lethbridge. On top of serving at the Farm Credit Canada Breakfast at Ag Expo and meeting with a farmer round table, Ritz also announced 15.5 million in funding for the Canadian Triticale Biorefiniery Initiative. I participated in the farmer round table where all twenty of the… Read More
Larry Hicks of Cattlehedging.com was one of the keynote speakers at the Tiffin Conference yesterday in Lethbridge. Larry spoke about the necessity of risk management in the beef business. Larry very clearly outlined what hedging is and that there is much more involved than calling your broker to buy or sell futures contracts. He emphasized… Read More
Alberta Agriculture Deputy Minister, John Knapp, spoke to producers about how Alberta Agriculture is putting a strategy in place to reconnect with rural Alberta and help to enable success for members of the livestock value chain. Two examples that he gave were: Creating an irrigation department that focuses on improving the efficiency of water application… Read More
Yesterday on Call of the Land, an Alberta Radio Show, there was an interview with the Honorable George Groeneveld, the Alberta Agriculture Minister. Known for his straight forward answers Mr. Groeneveld discusses the highlights of 2008. In the interview he discusses trade with Asia, the implementation of ALMA and ongoing issues with the WTO. This… Read More
It is official, Tom Vilsack is the new Ag Secretary in the United States. Vilsack is the former governor of Iowa and Presidential candidate. Iowa has the second largest agricultural output value in the country, second to only California. If you want to intimately get to know the new secretary, check out his My Space… Read More
Sometimes when you are trying to get a point across you stretch the fabric of reality to invoke thought. Many speakers and writers do this everyday in order to make a point. Well I think the NFU has crossed the line this week as Darrin Qualman made statements regarding Canada’s focus on trade to better agriculture… Read More
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