Reading Time: 10 minutes You’re hearing it here first. No one outside agriculture seems to know about it (at least, none of the journalists who write front-page stories or who lead off on CBC broadcasts). Canada’s ag exports through the past year and a half have been blistering. New statistics from the red-hot 2007-08 trading year show exports shot […] Read more
UP UP AND AWAY
Farm Team
Reading Time: 5 minutes About 15 minutes outside Thunder Bay, Henry Staal and his brother Gary operate Sunshine Sod Farms. You might call it their own field of dreams. Or maybe it should be Canada’s field of dreams. The Staals’ father came to Canada from Holland in 1952, worked hard, saved, bought a farm in 1960, and then worked […] Read more
2008 set new records, but can those big premiums survive 2009?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Don Mingle knows there s as much theatrics in the soybean business as on the big screen. It s just that Mingle thought he d seen it all, especially the acting from buyers during any sort of market glut: You got this much? How much? Oh, the other guy s cheaper. But in 2008, the […] Read more
Free-market, right-of-centre Alberta roars into Canada’s beef industry with barrels full of tax cash
Reading Time: 4 minutes All eyes are on Alberta as the province beefs up its support for livestock producers and, in the very same breath, tries to mould the industry into its new vision of sustainability. It’s no secret that livestock producers across the country are facing tough times. Low prices, a volatile dollar, high feed costs, decreased market […] Read more
When it’s avian flu in Asia, or problems with Malaysian palm oil production, or too much dry weather in Brazil, or growing demand for cooking oil in India, our marketing antennae need to go up
Reading Time: 2 minutes In 2009, the forces impacting our soybeans are varied and unpredictable and they can come at us from the furthest reaches of the globe. Managing the way those forces impact our soybean returns, however, is much closer to home. The global soybean complex is constantly changing and we must be prepared to change with it. […] Read more
DISTINCTLY QUÉBEC
Reading Time: 2 minutes We call ourselves a distinct society. Some of us want to split from Canada, and even Stephen Harper thought it would be smart to tell us that we form a nation. Quebecers believe we’re quite different from the “rest of Canada.” The farmers among us are no exception. Is there really a distinct “Quebec model […] Read more
‘ Bucking’ the Roundup Ready trend
Reading Time: < 1 minute It comes down to bucks per acre, say Luke Carnaghan (R.) and Steve Grove. Farming today has to be about increasing their income per acre instead of continually increasing their acres It s a crisp mid-winter morning and we re talking in the shop, but the discussion isn t about commodity prices and it isn […] Read more
If you are a cash crop, hog, beef or lamb farmer, your balance sheet would look a lot better if you farmed in Quebec
Reading Time: 3 minutes milk is produced in Quebec, and poultry numbers are rising steadily. The hard truth is that if you are a cash crop, hog, beef or lamb farmer, your balance sheet would look a lot better if you farmed in Quebec. To look at just one comparison, MAPAQ (Quebec Ministry of Agriculture) statistics show that in […] Read more
Up in the West
Reading Time: 2 minutes The trend line for Manitoba soybean acres is definitely up, especially after the crop s miracle recovery in 2008 It could go from where we are right now to 450,000 acres. Bruce Brolley It s hard to believe that as recently as the mid-1990s, you could drive the length and breadth of Manitoba s Red […] Read more
Young Maritime farmers including Nova Scotia’s Justin Beck are looking for a reason to hope
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s a struggle. Transportation costs, spiralling debt and increased competition from other regions are hitting hard at the birthplace of Canadian agriculture. Farm numbers are dwindling, few young people let themselves even dream about staying on the farm, and everywhere you go, there’s continuous speculation about what lies ahead. A 2008 GPI Atlantic report says […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
