Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm – Canadian wheat ending stocks for both the current marketing year and 2023/24 (Aug/Jul) were revised lower by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s market analysis division in its updated supply/demand estimates, released July 21, with tighter oats and pulse stocks also expected. Wheat ending stocks for 2022/23 were lowered to 3.540 million tonnes by AAFC, […] Read more
AAFC lowers Canadian wheat ending stocks estimates
Drop in estimated oats carryout another notable adjustment
Talking up the farm story
It’s called brand theory and it’s the cornerstone of marketing for businesses around the world. Now it turns out it works on the farm too
Reading Time: 8 minutes A brand isn’t a Nike swoosh. It’s what the Nike swoosh makes you think. On the farm, it isn’t a yellow deer jumping across a green background. It’s all the ideas — the thoughts, feelings and expectations — that that deer calls up. Few jobs are more studded with brands than farming. Farmers fill their […] Read more
Coffee, from the ground up
When Canada’s farmers get together over coffee, maybe the coffee should do more of the talking
Reading Time: 6 minutes That coffee you grab to start your day represents more — way more — than something to wake you up. As you sip your favourite morning brew, you probably aren’t thinking about what type of beans were used, where they were grown, who farmed them or how they arrived at your breakfast table or drive-through […] Read more
Working on a hashtag
It’s happened. Social media is now the leading way consumers learn about agriculture, which might just prove to be great news for farmers too
Reading Time: 5 minutes In the early days of COVID-19, the staff at Farm and Good Care Ontario thought their website had been hacked. Overnight, the hits on their virtual farm tours were up 4,000 per cent. Then, they learned why. “It turns out the Toronto District School Board promoted our website,” says Kelly Daynard, the group’s executive director. […] Read more
Biden overhauling U.S. marijuana policy
Prior federal offenses to be pardoned; moves could ease U.S. business for cannabis firms
Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington | Reuters — U.S. President Joe Biden took steps to overhaul U.S. policy on marijuana on Thursday by pardoning thousands of people with federal offenses for simple marijuana possession — and initiating a review of how the drug is classified. Biden said thousands of people with prior federal convictions could be denied employment, housing […] Read more
Strategic marketing
These three farms have made fundamental changes to how they market. Should you too?
Reading Time: 6 minutes Whether you price and deliver using a commodity exchange, or whether you negotiate contracts with retailers or you sell farm products directly to consumers, the price you go to market at is always crucial to success in agriculture. Increasingly, though, today’s farmers are applying their management skills to the job. How can they set themselves […] Read more
Food writer’s focus on local gets consumer attention
Why do Canadians love to read what Globe & Mail food editor Lucy Waverman thinks about their food and who grows it? Because her love for food is so irresistible
Reading Time: 4 minutes As we talk, Lucy Waverman is listing ingredients she always keeps in her kitchen. “Olive oil and chilies — I always like to have dried chilies or some fresh birdseye or banana peppers — just a pinch of something a little spicy brings out flavour,” she says. Then there’s salmon. Butter. Salt. “Salt is one […] Read more
Value adding, with a flourish
What does it take to thrive with a farm that value adds? The answer surprised Dana Thatcher, and it will likely surprise you too
Reading Time: 6 minutes When Dana Thatcher started getting compliments from the other teachers at school about the food she was bringing for lunch, little did she know it would lead to a thriving farm, food and agri-tourism business. “People were interested in what I was eating, and the fact that we had grown it,” Thatcher recalls. “That’s what […] Read more
The deal with food distributors
By connecting with distributors, ambitious small farms are leapfrogging their way into bigger markets. Is this an opportunity for mainstream farms too?
Reading Time: 7 minutes At peak operation, Andrew Vogler was growing 50 different varieties of vegetables, selling at nine different farmers markets around Abbottsford, B.C., and delivering vegetable boxes to 200 customers in the lower mainland. In other words, his produce farm was a lot like a lot of other startups — a lot of energy was going in […] Read more
A condiment with a dash of heat
How do you build a thriving business on a crop that consumers use a spoonful at a time?
Reading Time: 6 minutes In Ontario’s Norfolk County, horseradish is a lot like that gawky kid everyone knew in high school who came back from summer vacation one year suddenly transformed with muscles and a cool new look. Where did that come from? Overnight, he’d become a deal. Horseradish has been around forever too, although it’s been nearly 20 […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
