"The world is going this way, and we have to do
our part,” says Dale Beugin. “Let’s do it in the most cost-effective way possible.”

The carbon tax

Farmers see themselves as the good guys in the carbon debate, with good reason. Is agriculture going to pay anyway?

Reading Time: 13 minutes It had been another frigid day in Manitoba, snow swirling as farmers and ranchers gathered at a downtown hotel, but once inside it didn’t take long for the temperature to rise. They’d gathered for Keystone Agricultural Producers annual general meeting, where one issue outpaced the rest — carbon pricing. It was standing room only, with […] Read more

(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Diafiltered milk issue sours on slow federal response

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — Two weeks after rallying on Parliament Hill to protest Trans-Pacific and European trade agreements, some dairy farmers say the government is still slacking when it comes to supporting their industry. The immediate crisis, according to Jan Slomp, a Vancouver Island dairy farmer and president of the National Farmers Union, is diafiltered milk. […] Read more


Our farmland for sale

Our farmland for sale

The West is clamping down on foreign ownership of farmland, and even in Ontario, where there are few controls, overseas purchases are much lower than the rumour mill says

Reading Time: 5 minutes Almost every rural coffee shop has its own version of the same story. Foreigners are buying up Canadian farmland and they’re making land prices soar beyond the reach of local farmers as a result. But is it true? Maybe. But not likely. In fact, according to the people with their fingers on the pulse, such […] Read more

bee hive

Making the case in the neonic debate

Can agriculture afford to lose to the non-science of neonic opponents? The costs would be even higher than you probably think

Reading Time: 13 minutes Here in early 2015, it’s becoming a recognized pattern in agriculture: another day, another article, another proclamation and another call for action, all revolving around farmers’ use of neonicotinoid seed treatments and the alleged damage this does to bees and bee colonies. To say there is an abundance of information on this topic is one […] Read more