“It has allowed me to grow into a partner with him,” Harley says of his father Kurt’s approach to teamwork.

Meet the team

In today’s agriculture, succession means most family farms must grow. For the Siemens family, it also means adopting new ways of doing business. Success is all about building on the existing foundation, and creating a new one

Reading Time: 14 minutes When Kurt Siemens and his son Harley were planning an expansion of the family’s egg farm, they would scratch out designs on paper, then climb the feed tank in the yard so they could visualize the layout on the ground from a bird’s-eye view.  “We would take marker paint and draw the building out on […] Read more

(Viktorcvetkovic/E+/Getty Images)

Spy agency sees ransomware attacks soaring

Aggressive hacking expected to increase

Reading Time: < 1 minute Ottawa | Reuters — Global ransomware attacks increased by 151 per cent in the first half of 2021 compared with 2020 and hackers are set to become increasingly aggressive, Canada’s signals intelligence agency said on Monday. The Communications Security Establishment (CSE), citing attacks on North American health facilities and a U.S. pipeline, said the scale […] Read more


"We thought we should check it out for ourselves,” says Cheryl Norleen, seen here with husband, Marc. What the young farm couple found was a way to use their farm knowledge for real impact.

Skill share

Farmers like Cheryl and Marc Norleen are giving time where it’s needed

Reading Time: 9 minutes Farmers raising livestock and growing crops in developing countries often lack access to modern equipment and the capital needed to make improvements on their farms. They face other hurdles too. Without computers or the internet, it’s impossible to watch YouTube videos for step-by-step instructions to repair equipment or to learn new farming techniques, and there […] Read more

A restoration company vehicle sits in a flooded field at Abbotsford, B.C. on Nov. 30, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Jennifer Gauthier)

British Columbia braces for more heavy rain

Reading Time: < 1 minute Ottawa | Reuters — British Columbia is facing more heavy rains as the province tries to recover from massive floods and mudslides, Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth told reporters on Tuesday. Farnworth said crews were working to shore up dikes and dams, adding some roads would be closed protectively. Flooding over Nov. 14-16 in Canada’s […] Read more


Parts of the Trans Canada Highway at Abbotsford, B.C. remain submerged in flood waters on Nov. 19, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Jennifer Gauthier)

Repair work on B.C. rail lines expected for days yet

CP expects to resume service 'mid-week;' some highways open only for essential travel

Reading Time: 4 minutes Canada’s big two railways expect repair work to continue into at least next week before service can resume through storm-battered areas of British Columbia to export terminals at Vancouver. Both railways, along with several major B.C. highways, have been shut this week due to damage from flooding and landslides spurred by a major multi-day storm […] Read more

Delivery vans from the Save-On-Foods grocery store chain wait for a police escort to cross through a landslide near Hope, B.C. on Nov. 18, 2021 to restock the local grocery store after rainstorms caused flooding and landslides in the region. (Photo: Reuters/Jesse Winter)

Panicked shoppers clear out flood-hit B.C.’s grocery stores

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Shoppers in British Columbia have emptied grocery shelves following catastrophic flooding, although the shortages are as much down to panic buying as disrupted supply chains, industry associations said on Thursday. Even as flood waters start to recede, some parts of the province are expected to face to temporary shortages of dairy supplies, with […] Read more


Thousands in B.C. still stranded by flood waters

'We are not out of this by a long shot'

Reading Time: 2 minutes Abbotsford | Reuters — Rescuers and workers in British Columbia were still trying to reach 18,000 people stranded on Thursday after floods and mudslides destroyed roads, houses and bridges in what could be the costliest natural disaster in the country’s history. Receding flood waters were helping rescue efforts, but the downpour blocked off entire towns […] Read more

Thousands in B.C. still stranded by flood waters

'We are not out of this by a long shot'

Reading Time: 2 minutes Abbotsford | Reuters — Rescuers and workers in British Columbia were still trying to reach 18,000 people stranded on Thursday after floods and mudslides destroyed roads, houses and bridges in what could be the costliest natural disaster in the country’s history. Receding flood waters were helping rescue efforts, but the downpour blocked off entire towns […] Read more


File photo of containers at a seaport in Jakarta. (Leolintang/iStock/Getty Images)

APEC ministers call for curbs on farm, fuel, fishing subsidies

Reading Time: 3 minutes Washington/Wellington | Reuters — Pacific Rim trade and foreign ministers on Tuesday pledged to sustain the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic while pursuing talks to curb subsidies for fisheries and agriculture at a forthcoming World Trade Organization meeting. The ministers from the 21 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries said in a communique issued after […] Read more

Southwestern Alberta MP John Barlow, shown here at a parade in 2016, is again the federal Conservatives’ agriculture critic. (JohnBarlowMP.ca)

Conservatives’ Barlow to return as federal ag critic

NDP, Bloc incumbent critics to return

Reading Time: 3 minutes A former agriculture critic for the federal opposition Conservatives will again handle the file when the House of Commons resumes sitting in two weeks. Conservative leader Erin O’Toole on Tuesday named John Barlow, MP for the southwestern Alberta riding of Foothills, as shadow minister for agriculture, agri-food and food security. As ag critic, Barlow replaces […] Read more