File photo of a truck and stock trailer on a Canadian roadway. (Ben185/iStock/Getty Images)

Animal welfare activist dies outside Ontario pork plant

Protestor reportedly hit by transport truck

Reading Time: 2 minutes An animal welfare activist has died while attending what’s been described as a “vigil” outside a southern Ontario hog packing plant, as new provincial limits on such activity around livestock are set to take effect. Halton Regional Police Service reported receiving a call Friday morning that a person had been “struck by a transport truck” […] Read more

We’ve got our wish,” says farm social media voice Andrew Campbell. Canadians are listening. So now, he says, “We have to give people the information they need.”

‘Fake News’ and the farm

Politicians may have just caught on about ‘fake news,’ but farmers have known for years what it’s like to live in a world where anything can and does get said and believed. Now, there is a way to counter the din of anti-activists, the food conspiracy theorists, and the faddists. And it may just start with you.

Reading Time: 7 minutes Just 18 short months ago, almost no one — not politicians, not reporters, not lay people — used the term ‘fake news.’ Sure, bias and dishonesty have existed in politics, in sales, in industry and in media forever. What’s new since the viral spread of the ‘fake news’ concept, though, is our almost universal belief […] Read more


A general image of people protesting

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

a hamburger juxtaposed with an American flag

Are Canadian farmers ready for a food fight?

Your business could soon be caught up in a public relations battle. Based on what we’re seeing south of the border, are you ready?

Reading Time: 9 minutes A tsunami seems set to wash over Canadian agriculture. No, the seas haven’t suddenly shifted inland. This dangerous wave is made up of public sentiment about the way you conduct your business. Just like a tsunami, you might not like it, you probably won’t welcome it, but trying to resist it is going to be […] Read more