Reading Time: 6 minutes If our food looks bad, tastes bad, or smells bad, we won’t eat it. So why don’t we treat information the same way? After all, we are told information is power. Information has value. Information is essential to modern society. So if information “smells” bad, shouldn’t we be wary of consuming it as well? Dr. […] Read more
Before you believe it
Because our vulnerability to misinformation is growing every day, the easy-to-use SMELL test needs to become like an app that we turn on every time we connect to the web, listen to a radio, or even talk to each other
Editor’s Note: Listen to the science of 2017
If the Brexit vote didn’t prove it, the Trump election did. Voters are losing faith in their governments, which is one more reason to worry about the regulations imposed on ag
Reading Time: 2 minutes The science of listening is almost beyond belief. Based at their Purchase, New York headquarters, 60 specially trained communication experts manage what is called the MasterCard Conversation Suite, backed up by a team of researchers, marketing specialists and lawyers. With software from Domo and Percolate among others, the MasterCard team monitors a 40-foot LED screen […] Read more
Editor’s Note: The competition
The challenges that lie ahead for our farms are real. Indeed, they’re more real than any but of a few us will admit. But so is the opportunity
Reading Time: 2 minutes I was asked some weeks ago to speak to a Purdue University ag business conference, where the focus was on trying to catch up with the rapidly evolving nature of today’s farms. An ag economics professor there named Mike Gunderson was early in the agenda, and clearly felt that all of us needed to be […] Read more
The other glyphosate ‘resistance’
Who are the Canadian activists who are pushing for a glyphosate ban, and why are they so convinced they’re right?
Reading Time: 8 minutes In the September issue of Country Guide I wrote about the Avaaz movement’s effort to ban glyphosate in “The Target is Glyphosate“. As I reported then, if you haven’t heard of Avaaz, you should go to its website today. The prestigious Guardian newspaper says Avaaz (whose name means “voice” in several European languages) is the […] Read more
Editor’s Note: We’re making the connection
Reading Time: 2 minutes Finally we’re actually moving into an agriculture that knows exactly how to integrate business management for better, more profitable decisions in the field. I know that many of you have been following our series of financial management columns written by the faculty and teachers at AgriFood Management Excellence, the group that offers the advanced CTEAM […] Read more
We’ve been misinformed
Put this eight-page debunking handbook on the top of your reading list, and let’s stop making consumer misinformation worse
Reading Time: 6 minutes The good news is that farmers are finally recognizing the damage that misinformation is doing to our industry, and we are responding to it. The bad news is that the way we respond may actually be increasing consumer opposition rather than alleviating it. We’ve been misinformed about fighting misinformation. Agriculture is not the only industry […] Read more
Editor’s Note: This time, Ottawa must listen
Reading Time: 2 minutes If the average Canadian farmer was 40 instead of pushing 65, would we really be giving our governments such a soft ride? Of course there have been serious political issues in Canadian agriculture in the last five years. A list is easy to rattle off, comprising everything from grain transportation in the West to trade […] Read more
Editor’s Note: Beyond our understanding
Reading Time: 2 minutes Before you click away, read Gerald Pilger’s ‘The target is glyphosate’, even if you think you don’t have time The organization that Gerald writes about is called Avaaz, named after the root that gives us the word “voice” in several European languages. Over 44 million environmentalists around the world now belong to Avaaz, and they […] Read more
The target is glyphosate
It’s time to worry. The real goal of today’s anti-GMO movement is to kill the weed killer at the core of modern agriculture
Reading Time: 6 minutes As farmers, we have a question to ask ourselves. Are we getting played? Are we getting taken in, just like an audience at a magic show that gets fooled into watching the distraction instead of what’s really happening? Is agriculture reacting to the GMO debate when we should be focusing on protecting glyphosate? These are […] Read more
My crystal ball shows risk in expecting higher food prices
The world will need more food but unless production increases can’t meet that demand, today’s prices probably won’t change much
Reading Time: 2 minutes I attended the annual conference of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, held recently in Boston. Conferences of this type are always tainted by the flavour du jour. Hence, no surprise that conversations were dominated by the current downturn in U.S. agriculture. I was left with a couple of key takeaway thoughts for Canadian agriculture. […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
