Reading Time: < 1 minute Ontario Federation of Agriculture President Keith Currie talks about why the OFA is putting more emphasis on distributed economic development. Read more: OFA pre-election policy targets broader economic development
VIDEO: OFA puts more focus on rural economic development
Farmer-made hay dryer boosts quality
Chinook bale dryer uses spikes to dry bales from the inside out
Reading Time: 3 minutes Chris Martin saw how hay bale dryers were working in Quebec and thought that the concept would work on his farm in Ontario. And he figured he and his brother could make one that worked even better. Three years later, they have their dryer working – but not perfected – and have sold one other […] Read more
Benchmarking, grading, research needed to move lamb sector forward
Reading Time: 4 minutes Like a doctor delivering bad news to a patient, Martin Gooch gave it straight to the Ontario sheep sector: the sheep industry continues to be disjointed and inefficient, with a lack of benchmarks to define a successful farm. Like a good doctor, Gooch also delivered some optimism. “You could double production and have room for […] Read more
Customer focus drives lamb processor partnerships with farmers
Reading Time: 3 minutes Wahab Zamani’s family knows what it wants in a lamb. And family members go to great lengths, partnering with sheep farmers, to get it. The Zamani family runs Simcoe Street Meat Packers and processes lamb in Kawartha Lakes for its retail stores in Toronto. They specialize in “truly halal products” he told the Ontario Sheep […] Read more
Cellulosic sugars co-op offer improves, hosting baling demos
First demonstration takes place on Nov. 14 in Watford, Ont.
Reading Time: 2 minutes Farmers continue to sign up for an Ontario co-operative that will pay them for their corn stover and wheat straw. Brian Cofell, general manager of the Cellulosic Sugar Producers Co-operative (CSPC) says that the co-op has about 40 per cent of the acres committed that it needs by next fall, when it plans to harvest […] Read more
Big trends drive diverging high and low income food interests
Panel discussed the future of food and the widening disconnect between growers and consumers
Reading Time: 3 minutes There are larger issues driving food trends that should give farmers opportunities to open conversations with people in the food movement. The challenge is starting that conversation. Jayson Lusk, the head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University, told the George Morris AgriFood Policy Lecture on the future of food that influencers are […] Read more
Competing with Russian wheat
Newer wheat classes provide an opportunity to serve Mexican markets that don’t need CWRS
Reading Time: 3 minutes Western Canadian wheat classes such as Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) and the new Canada Northern Hard Red (CNHR) have recently been attracting attention from Mexican millers to meet their end-uses. Senior managers from Grupo Trimex, Mexico’s largest milling company and a customer of CWRS, attended a one-week technical exchange at the Canadian International Grains […] Read more
Opinion: No pedestal required
The more I learn about leadership, the more I see that the best opportunities for our farms start when we empower others
Reading Time: 4 minutes Social research professor Dr. Brené Brown reminds us that: “Connections are why we are here. It is what gives purpose and meaning to our lives.” In agriculture and agri-business we tend to connect on a very deep level, driven in part by shared values and interests. As a community, our congregating is visible in every […] Read more
U.S. women own it
When we think ‘farmer,’ we often also think ‘male.’ Because it’s men who own the farmland, right?
Reading Time: 5 minutes The truth of farmland ownership is changing, especially the picture of who owns farmland in the United States, where the numbers are a bit clearer than here in Canada, and where the shift has been underway for decades. The questions are simple enough: How many women own farmland in the U.S.? What are the parameters […] Read more
Flax opportunities
Agronomics and yield are the big priorities for flax growers in Western Canada
Reading Time: 9 minutes Flax acres have started to rebound over the past few years, with Saskatchewan still accounting for most of the flax grown on the Prairies. In order to entice more growers to flax, however, yields will need to increase. Average flax yields have hovered around 22 bu./ac. for many years, and although growers in some areas […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
