Reading Time: 5 minutes While farm kids learn many things that their urban counterparts never get to experience, it’s also possible that in the busy-ness of life on the farm, some skills needed for independent living can get overlooked. It’s just easier to keep getting their meals for them, doing their laundry for them, helping them sort their money […] Read more
Adulting 101
Got a teenager who will soon be off to school? Do them a favour with these life lessons
A food tour of Toronto’s Kensington Market
When city dwellers get curious about where their food comes from, they take tours like this one to Toronto’s Kensington Market. Country Guide sent writer Steven Biggs to buy a ticket and answer the question: Should a farmer go too?
Reading Time: 7 minutes Our tour guide is Leo Moncel, and as he looks over the English-Chinese menu, he calls out, “Does anyone have dietary restrictions?” In a restaurant like this after everything we’ve seen on the stands and in the windows of Toronto’s Kensington Market, it makes us wonder. What could he mean? It turns out it’s the […] Read more
Business opp
Entrepreneurs see big bucks in the campaign to reduce food waste
Reading Time: 4 minutes In recent years, farmers have been repeatedly urged to produce more food to feed a world population that is expected to hit almost 10 billion people by 2050. At the same time, food waste is a growing concern, leading some to argue there’s already enough food being produced in the world, and the real solution […] Read more
Guide Health: Are you getting enough dietary fibre?
Start slowly — adding too much fibre too fast will result in adverse effects
Reading Time: 2 minutes You know that fibre is an important part of your diet, but do you get enough? Daily recommendations vary from 25 to 30 grams of fibre, with older people and women needing even more. A penny weighs about a gram, so that’s about 25 to 30 pennies in weight. (I suspect you can remember pennies!) […] Read more
New business
InfraReady’s success, crafted by entrepreneur Mark Pickard, reveals what it takes to grow an idea into a corporate success in today’s ag and food sector
Reading Time: 7 minutes InfraReady Products occupies a modest grey building in Saskatoon’s industrial area, across the street from Maple Leaf Foods. Inside is a business that produces over 250 food products for companies from around the world. On a late August day, a delegation of Mexican business people has stopped at InfraReady for lunch. The menu features food […] Read more
Meat-less meat takes a big step closer to becoming mainstream
Terms like “cultured proteins” may not make anyone salivate the way a sizzling steak can, but that’s not stopping Canada’s grocery sector from getting ready for meat-case revolution
Reading Time: 4 minutes Another new President’s Choice product made headlines recently. But who would have guessed what it was this time? Are you ready? It’s cricket powder, now part of Loblaw’s popular private label brand. Last year’s breakthrough seems so much more pedestrian by comparison. It was a vegetarian burger that bleeds like a real meat patty on […] Read more
Finding the right niche
If it makes you shake your head that these two large, sophisticated farms are focusing on, of all things, sweet potatoes as the right crop to build their futures on, listen to them explain why
Reading Time: 7 minutes In just a couple of pockets across the country, it’s estimated Canada is growing about 1,800 acres of sweet potatoes. About 1,100 of them are grown by Berlo’s Best. Why? The reason is partly what you might expect. Canadian demand for sweet potatoes has skyrocketed. Ethnic markets are booming, sales of new products like sweet […] Read more
Step one to value adding: Evaluation
You’ve got a great idea for a new product. Or maybe not
Reading Time: 5 minutes There are many reasons why farmers are drawn to value adding. You might have excess capacity in the field or the barn, for instance, or maybe if you milled grain into flour, you could retain good staff by providing year-round positions. Or maybe you’re wondering if an on-farm market could solve your problems by creating […] Read more
The new consumer value
While farmers take pride in producing high-quality crops at affordable prices, consumers have moved on
Reading Time: 6 minutes In my previous article I suggested that farmers need some fresh thinking about the value they are producing for the consumer. Unfortunately, the majority of North American farmers still value their production only on the basis of quality and price, whereas research shows that only about half of consumers now base their food purchasing decisions […] Read more
The table and who’s around it
Even though you’re too busy to spend hours in the kitchen, you can still have a great Sunday meal
Reading Time: 4 minutes The concept of the Sunday Supper is an old one. The traditional day of church and of rest (although not always so much for women and farmers with livestock), Sundays were a day when cooks would take a little extra time to prepare a meal. And while today most days are go-go-go, especially on the […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
