Articles Written by Lorraine Stevenson

The job vacancy rate in agriculture is now pegged at 5.4 per cent, much higher than the national average at just under 2.9 per cent.

More lost sales forecast in new labour market forecast study released June 25

Nearly half of Canada's farmers with jobs unfilled have delayed or cancelled farm business expansion plans

By Lorraine Stevenson June 28, 2019

Workforce challenges are having a worsening effect on farmers’ ability to meet their production and marketing goals and contribute to the economy according to new data published this week. Farms across the industry are poised for lost sales worth $2.9 billion in potential sales due to unfilled job vacancies, up from a previous forecast of […] Read more

Beating the odds: Gurpreet Singh, Murray Froebe and Tapinder Singh found a way to connect that helps the farm and them too.

Guide Business, Management

New hires

On Canada’s farms, the cost of all the work that can’t be done because there are no workers to do it is spinning out of control

By Lorraine Stevenson May 28, 2019

Farmers around Carman, Man., know the small convenience store in the town called the Lite Stop Foods. They know they’ll find what they want there — a few groceries, the local newspaper, a snack to tide them over. It also happens to be where Murray Froebe found two very good employees for his farm. Froebe […] Read more

Workers who aren’t the right fit for their job aren’t happy, and seldom stick around.

Guide Business, Management

‘I didn’t sign up for this!’

The new AgriHR Toolkit from the national ag human resources council can help in heading off conflict before it happens

By Lorraine Stevenson May 16, 2019

Many of us have heard it from a disgruntled employee or possibly a family member. Maybe, at some point in our lives, we have even said it ourselves. “I didn’t sign up for this!” Workers who aren’t the right fit for their job aren’t happy, and they seldom stick around. In fact, 80 per cent […] Read more

For Ontario’s Larmer family, on-farm child care is a safety, economic and educational issue. But, says DFRFR co-ordinator Katelyn, even successful programs, are under pressure.

Guide Business, Guide Life

Teeter totter

Farming parents need accessible, high-quality child care for their children. Can they get it?

By Lorraine Stevenson April 25, 2019

When Donalee Jones and Scott Mowbray returned to their home town and began farming near Cartwright, Man., in 2008, the couple assumed that when things got busy, the family that they planned to have one day could easily be looked after by Scott’s parents, who lived on the yard of the Mowbray’s 2,000-acre grain farm. […] Read more

General

Eat plant-based foods more often, new Food Guide says

By Lorraine Stevenson January 22, 2019

Health Canada unveiled a new Canada Food Guide today that ends the era of the ‘four food groups,’ no longer refers to serving sizes nor specific amounts of food to eat daily, and replaces the former iconic rainbow with a dinner plate comprised mostly of plant-based foods. This new guide is all about proportion rather […] Read more

Brian Greaves and Karen Hill and their son Mark are the Red River Exhibition Association’s 2018 Farm Family of the Year. The couple also has a daughter, Alison, who is studying veterinary medicine in New Zealand.

News, Sheep/Goats

Sheep producers named farm family of the year

Silver Bend Ranch of Miniota has earned the 2018 honour from the Red River Exhibition Association

By Lorraine Stevenson July 3, 2018

A Miniota-area couple who began to farm “from scratch” in the early 1990s is the 2018 Farm Family of the Year, named by the Red River Exhibition Association (RREA). Brian Greaves and Karen Hill, who have two children Mark and Alison, were presented with the award during the Hall of Fame banquet in Winnipeg last […] Read more

Dairy Cattle, Livestock

Eastern Manitoba ice cream maker closes shop

By Lorraine Stevenson April 12, 2018

An eastern Manitoba dairy farmer who began producing a specialty ice cream with the farm’s own milk in 2013 has closed shop citing rising production costs. Lisa Dyck, owner of the Cornell Creme ice cream brand, began producing a line of hand-crafted ice cream in 2013, using milk from the family dairy farm northeast of […] Read more

News

VIDEO: Down to earth jewelry made from Manitoba soil

Provincial soil turned trinkets travel the world

By Lorraine Stevenson January 5, 2016

Manitoba Soil Sciences Society members have been using Newdale Clay Loam to make a series of pendants/keychains, bracelets, earrings and rings since Manitoba proclaimed it the provincial soil in 2010. MSSS members Marla Riekman and John Heard explain how the idea originated, how the jewelry is made, and the intent behind the ongoing initiative. All […] Read more

Somerset-area organic farmer Jeremiah Evans is impressed with the weed control he’s getting with his new U.K.-made in-row cultivator, the Garford Robocrop.

Crops, Machinery

Organic weed control, precision weed tillage via the ‘Robocrop’

Frustrated with lack of weed control, one organic farmer from Manitoba is impressed by a U.K.-made in-row cultivator

By Lorraine Stevenson July 23, 2015

Jeremiah Evans has a new high-tech hand helping him control weeds on his organic farm. Last fall the Somerset-area farmer took delivery of a custom-built U.K.-manufactured Garford Robocrop in-row cultivator, which uses special software to identify and target weeds, leaving the crop behind. After seeing what it could do to his wild oats, thistle and […] Read more

Livestock

National 4-H museum comes home to Roland, Man.

By Lorraine Stevenson June 7, 2013

4-H capped off its celebration of 100 years in Canada this past weekend by coming home. Like a good old-fashioned rally, dignitaries, clubs and alumni joined with local residents here May 31 to celebrate. If how the venerable organization honours its past is any indication, 4-H has no worries about its future. It was on […] Read more

China June pork imports surge more than 62 per cent from previous year

Klassen: Yearling prices surge

U.S. grains: Futures drop as hopes of Chinese buying spree fizzle

GFM Network News