Reading Time: 2 minutes Five Ontario companies are among 13 semi-finalists selected in the federal government's Agricultural Methane Reduction Challenge, which is seeking innovative ways to reduce methane emissions from dairy and beef cattle.
Challenge model a new way to fund, support innovation
Salty business
Canada might hope climate change will force Europe to import more food. European farmers say we shouldn’t hold our breath
Reading Time: 5 minutes Here in Canada, we’re used to talking about the rise in extreme weather that comes with climate change, and we debate how it will affect crop and livestock production. In Europe, the debate has another twist. There, farmers are also worried about rising ocean levels. Why? According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) […] Read more
Food apps could be a game-changer for nutrition
These incredible new apps may become the next big disruptors in the food industry. You’ll probably subscribe too. But will they be good for the farm?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Among the many emerging technologies poised to change how we eat and even how we think about food, one of the most explosive could be personalized nutrition. It’s the idea of individual nutrition plans built around a person’s specific physical characteristics. And according to industry watchers, it could be so much more than just a […] Read more
3D printing: The next frontier in food
Innovation: Global commercialization is already ramping up on projects that were inconceivable only a couple of years ago
Reading Time: 4 minutes While burgers made from plants instead of animals are all the rage today, and many popular restaurant chains are jumping on the alternative-meat bandwagon, a Spanish startup is taking the concept one step further. Novameat has developed a plant-based “meat” that mimics the texture of a real steak — and that can be printed by […] Read more
Conservation tillage driving Brazil’s corn and soybean explosion
No-till farm group says no-till is the key to long-term sustainable agriculture
Reading Time: 4 minutes Crop production in Brazil has made dramatic gains in recent decades — and there’s potential for plenty more, say advocates of no till and conservation tillage in the country. In fact, members of the Brazilian Federation of No-Till Farming say no till is the key to achieving a long-term sustainable agriculture without additional deforestation. Soybean […] Read more
Business opp
Entrepreneurs see big bucks in the campaign to reduce food waste
Reading Time: 4 minutes In recent years, farmers have been repeatedly urged to produce more food to feed a world population that is expected to hit almost 10 billion people by 2050. At the same time, food waste is a growing concern, leading some to argue there’s already enough food being produced in the world, and the real solution […] Read more
Blockchain essentials
At last, here’s a clear explanation of what the blockchain fuss is all about, and why it may be such a winner for agriculture
Reading Time: 4 minutes Traceability, food safety and fighting food fraud are issues of significant importance to food producers around the world. In fact, with supply chains getting more complex and ever-more global, and with consumers becoming increasingly both more curious and more wary about how and from where food gets to their plate, these issues may never have […] Read more
Canada’s food producers speaking up
Farmers on both sides of the Atlantic are scoring big wins with effective new consumer-outreach strategies
Reading Time: 6 minutes When I was in the Netherlands this past summer, I had the chance to visit a hog farm. That in itself is not unusual, but what stayed with me were the blunt comments of the farmer who hosted us that day. “We need consumers to like us if we want them to buy our products,” […] Read more
Artificial intelligence
… the brave new world of how you’ll farm, and eat
Reading Time: 4 minutes It used to be that artificial intelligence was limited to the realms of science fiction and movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey or Terminator’s Skynet. Today, artificial intelligence is real — think Alexa or Google Home — and tools and applications putting it to use are emerging at a rapid clip in many fields, including […] Read more
Could the future of farming lie indoors?
Innovation: The scale seems much too small, say farmers. But that may be its greatest strength
Reading Time: 5 minutes Outside of maybe the health care field, there are few sectors that are as innovative and changing as rapidly as agriculture. It’s what I’ll write about in this series of columns for Country Guide, because frankly, some of the technologies that are coming off the drawing boards are going to challenge the way we think […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
