sustainability Archives - Page 5 of 5

Promoting agriculture around the globe

Why are other countries better than Canada at getting their young people excited about careers in agriculture? With support from Glacier FarmMedia, Nuffield scholar Becky Parker is on her way to find out

By Lois Harris March 18, 2015

Reading Time: 5 minutes Becky Parker’s passion for agriculture and its future shines through when she talks about her upcoming two-year research adventure as a Nuffield scholar. But Parker also knows that it’s going to take the best people doing the best work to keep our agriculture at the forefront. In particular, she is focused on one crucial question. […] Read more

General, Markets

Guenther: McDonald’s sustainability goals to reach beyond beef

By Lisa Guenther March 12, 2015

Reading Time: 3 minutes Farmers who want to keep supplying the world’s biggest quick-service restaurant chains can expect more scrutiny of their methods going forward. That’s because the chains’ customers appear to be looking for more sustainably-produced food — so companies such as McDonald’s in turn are looking for third-party verification to prove the ingredients they source make the […] Read more

Crops, Guide Business

Can American farms keep getting bigger?

Now even big farmers have their doubts and feel it's reached a tipping point

By Amy Petherick March 11, 2015

Reading Time: 5 minutes About three hours north of the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana Delta Plantation was the largest U.S. crop farm, working 100,000 acres. But that was only until 2005. Then the farm was broken up and sold. During a decade of its dizzying climb, Eddie Davis managed up to 34,000 acres for the company. It was easy […] Read more

bowl of red lentils isolated on white background

Pulses, Soybeans

Nitrogen fixing pulse crops are a win-win for growers

There’s a compelling economic and agronomic case to be made for pulses, not just soybeans

By Gord Leathers February 19, 2015

Reading Time: 5 minutes If you ask Lee Moats why he grows pulse crops on his farm, he doesn’t have to scramble very hard for the answer to that question. “It’s about money,” the farmer and vice-chair of the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers Association told Country Guide during a recent discussion. On his farm at Riceton, Sask., Moats says they’ve […] Read more

Opinion

Editor’s Desk: Leading from the front

By Tom Button February 9, 2015

Reading Time: 2 minutes “Most bad decisions get made in good times.” We’ve all heard it, and most of us have said it. Except I’m not sure I believe it. I see precious little indication that farmers have been making bad decisions during the past five years. At Country Guide, we’ve been keeping our eyes open for signs of […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canola Council of Canada)

Crops, Markets

Federal funding pledged for crop market development work

By Country Guide Staff January 14, 2015

Reading Time: 4 minutes Canadian crop commodity groups getting federal AgriMarketing funding plan to put the money to work over five years — not just in salesmanship, but in developing their crops’ story for potential customers. Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz made two five-year funding announcements during the CropSphere 2015 conference Tuesday and Wednesday in Saskatoon: over $3.3 million […] Read more

Crops, Soybeans

The slow road to traceability for grains and oilseeds

Traceability may be inevitable, and it may even be welcomed by farmers, but it is arriving in baby steps

By Ralph Pearce November 14, 2014

Reading Time: 5 minutes The word gets rolled out every time there’s a scare about food-borne illness, or when a meat or vegetable recall hits the headlines. It’s traceability. On the food side of the agri-food industry, it’s a word that instils confidence and trust. Yet on the agricultural side — at least, on the crop side — it […] Read more

Conservation tillage is supposed to save soil, preserve yields and increase farm profitability. So why has the global move toward no till stalled so far short of the goal?

Crops, Features

Increase in conservation agriculture ‘has to happen’

Only 7.1 per cent of the world’s arable land is farmed no till, and there are many reasons to adopt practices

By Ron Friesen September 2, 2014

Reading Time: 4 minutes If conservation agriculture is so great, why aren’t more farmers doing it? It’s a question that surfaced repeatedly during panel discussions at the recent World Congress on Conservation Agriculture in Winnipeg. Presenters from countries spanning the alphabet from Australia to Zambia left little doubt that conservation agriculture is a worldwide movement. Zero tillage is growing […] Read more

Crops, Features

Humanity must stop treating soil like dirt

Why we care: Farmers around the world know soil is the stuff of life

By Gord Leathers August 18, 2014

Reading Time: 6 minutes Winnipeg was the site of 2014’s World Congress on Conservation Agriculture where farmers, agronomists, researchers and policy-makers from 33 countries around the globe met to discuss the world’s soil, as the stories in the special ‘Sustainability’ section in the July 2014 issue of Country Guide reveal. In fact, Country Guide, and our farm readers, feel so strongly about […] Read more

NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 24: Howard G Buffett speaks during a press conference held by the United Nations World Food Programme, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation at the 63rd annual United Nations General Assembly meeting September 24, 2008 at UN headquarters in New York City to unveil a new initiative to help poor farmers across the developing world increase their incomes. The new initiative, Purchase for Progress, hopes to help small farmers access reliable markets in order to sell their surplus crops at competitive prices. (Photo by Rick Gershon/Getty Images)

Crops

Day of reckoning coming for U.S. farmers

How long can the U.S. compete in a world where other countries are working much more effectively at sustainability?

By Richard Kamchen August 11, 2014

Reading Time: 4 minutes American farmers are getting beaten badly by the likes of Brazil, Argentina and Australia. All those countries are far outpacing the U.S. rate for adopting conservation farm strategies, says Howard G. Buffett, and he believes a day of reckoning for the U.S. may come sooner rather than later. It won’t be pretty, Buffett told the […] Read more

Daily Network News

Canadian cattle herd sees first annual increase since 2018

Olymel parent company sees increased earnings in 2025

Spain alerts WHO of swine flu virus believed to have been transmitted between people

Tag Archives sustainability