Reading Time: 2 minutes Farming is a complex business. In March 2020 the Teerling family of Lindsay Lake Farms was set to move their farm from Germany to Nova Scotia. The limitations on growth in their native Germany prompted them to look for a new place to call home. After visiting Nova Scotia in 2019, and deciding on a […] Read more
A modern pioneer adventure
Rabobank to offer Canadian farm-level lending
Dutch co-operative bank's Canadian arm to loan directly to farmers, starting on Prairies
Reading Time: 3 minutes Updated — A global financing firm operating at higher altitudes in Canada’s food and agrifood sector now plans to expand its business down to the farm and ranch level. The Canadian arm of Rabobank — an Amsterdam-based farmer co-operative lender, providing banking, leasing and real estate services in more than 38 countries — announced Tuesday […] Read more
Free mental health training, workshops offered for farmers
Do More Ag Foundation expands programming available
Reading Time: 2 minutes Farmers seeking mental health support will have access to free training and community workshops for the fourth year in a row via the Do More Agriculture Foundation (DMAF) and Farm Credit Canada (FCC). Factors such as financial insecurity, uncontrollable weather and isolating working conditions contribute to high depression, anxiety and suicide rates among farmers, according […] Read more
Feds apologize for Saskatchewan farming colony scheme
Apology comes year after settlement with Peepeekisis Cree Nation
Reading Time: 3 minutes Just under a year after Peepeekisis Cree Nation’s settlement with the Canadian government over the File Hills Colony forced farming scheme, the federal government has made a formal apology. Operating from 1898 to 1954, the File Hills Colony scheme involved what the government today describes as the “involuntary relocation” of graduates from residential schools and […] Read more
Sierra Leone passes new laws to boost landowners’ rights
Reading Time: 2 minutes Freetown | Reuters — Sierra Leone’s parliament on Monday passed two laws that lawyers say will help boost the rights of rural landowners and women against land grabs by big mining and agribusiness firms. The West African country has a history of sometimes deadly conflict between local communities and foreign companies that have cleared huge […] Read more
Farming behind the lines: Growers in Ukraine plant amid hostilities close by
'We started the sowing campaign by removing rockets from the field'
Reading Time: 4 minutes Viktor and Sergiy Shipov are used to adversity. Viktor established a farming company in southern Ukraine 20 years ago, in the Mykolaiv Oblast, where hellish heat and lack of rainfall can make the land look like the Sahara Desert with yellow dunes. This is a corner of the classic Ukrainian steppe, where rainfall is very […] Read more
Farming behind the lines in Ukraine
A Ukrainian agriculture journalist chronicles the challenges of sowing a crop during wartime
Reading Time: 5 minutes Ukrainians will farm their land, even in the face of war. In the Kherson area of southern Ukraine, where war rages and the city of Kherson is seen by the Russian invaders as strategic, a column set out on Monday. This was a column of tractors, under the flag of Ukraine. In it were farmers […] Read more
Farm cybersecurity campaign seeks farmer input
CSKA online survey open until Feb. 18
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadian farmers are being asked for their input on a federally-backed project to assess and improve cybersecurity in Canada’s ag sector. The Community Safety Knowledge Alliance, the lead organization on the Cyber Security Capacity in Canadian Agriculture project, has put up a voluntary online survey for farm operators, running until Feb. 18, “to look at […] Read more
India’s Modi backs down on farm reforms in surprise win for protesters
Laws to be repealed in upcoming parliament session; protests to continue until then
Reading Time: 4 minutes Ghaziabad, India | Reuters — In a surprise announcement Friday, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he would repeal agriculture laws that farmers have been protesting against for more than a year, sparking celebrations for what farmers called a hard-fought victory. Modi’s decision is a significant climb-down for the combative leader and comes as state […] Read more
EU parliament committee approves farm subsidy reforms
Reading Time: 2 minutes Brussels | Reuters — The European Parliament’s agriculture committee on Thursday approved a deal to overhaul the European Union’s huge farming subsidies, including new measures aimed at making agriculture greener. The committee approved three pieces of legislation, which from 2023 will govern spending from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) — a scheme that will […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
