Reading Time: 6 minutes Dr. Evan Fraser wears multiple hats at the University of Guelph, although “hats” doesn’t seem a big enough word. Fraser is Canada research chair in global food security, scientific director of the university’s acclaimed Food from Thought research initiative, and much more. Fraser is also director of the Arrell Food Institute, whose mission statement conveys […] Read more
Trust the opportunity
All the Chicken Littles are wrong. The sky isn’t falling, and we aren’t running out of food, says Evan Fraser. “We live in a world where there is enough.”
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
Down on the farm
Farming is a mental health challenge. It isn’t your fault. The numbers prove it. So maybe this is the right moment to talk about whether you’re one of the many who would benefit from some help
Reading Time: 7 minutes Every farmer knows that the sun can’t always shine. That the rain sometimes comes too early, too late, too hard, or not at all. That markets can fall, costs can jump, crops can fail, and even the best thought-through decisions can prove painfully, expensively, brutally wrong. It isn’t easy being a farmer. No matter how […] Read more
The youth solution for feeding the world
Young aggies like Cameron Olson and Alexis Wagner know that feeding a hungry planet will be the challenge of their lifetimes, which is why they’re so ready to listen even to those with seemingly unfriendly views
Reading Time: 7 minutes More than 1,000 18- to 25-year-olds from 95 countries submitted essays to qualify for the third Youth-Ag Summit held this past October in Belgium, with 100 delegates actually getting a ticket. Among them were four young Canadians. Sponsored by Bayer, the summit gave youth an opportunity to discuss one of the most pressing questions the […] Read more
A woman’s place at the board table
In different parts of the country, Amanda Jeffs and Pam Bailey are rising to the same challenge, curbing the dominance of men on so many farm boards
Reading Time: 10 minutes Bailey has always bucked the trend. As a child, she was far more interested in Lego and Tonka trucks than dolls, and she had dreams of becoming a mechanic instead of a nurse, teacher or the other jobs that “girls were supposed to do.” At 34, she’s still bucking the trend. Bailey has just become […] Read more
The crop rotation effect
At last, scientists hope to explain exactly why rotations are such a good practice
Reading Time: 7 minutes It’s one thing to know the benefits of a practice, it’s another to understand the “why,” especially when it comes to biological functions where the road to understanding can be anything but simple. In cropping terms, science has known about the benefits of longer rotations for years, but not about the exact reasons why. This […] Read more
Empty soils
Today’s big-yield genetics really are draining the nutrient supply in our soils
Reading Time: 6 minutes The power of today’s corn hybrids and soybean varieties to exceed farmers’ expectations is a testament to the science of plant breeding, and also to the value of selecting the best elite genetics. That farmers in Eastern Canada have been able to push corn yields to 200 bu./ac. and soybeans to 60 bu./ac., even in […] Read more
Community to ‘transform’ Guelph’s Kemptville ag campus
Reading Time: 3 minutes The home municipality for Ontario Agricultural College’s (OAC) former Kemptville campus is set to remake the site as an “education and community hub.” The municipality of North Grenville, which includes Kemptville, about 40 km south of Ottawa, closed a deal in December to purchase the Kemptville ag campus, with the official transfer due to take […] Read more
Plant Breeders Rights not so simple
New regulations give PBR regs more teeth, but breeders still want you to follow the law out of self-interest, not fear
Reading Time: 6 minutes When Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) got a major facelift two years ago, the seed trade in Canada responded with information campaigns saying that all was for the best. Upgrades in intellectual property protection weren’t a cash grab, farmers were told. Instead, they showed the international community that Canada takes property protection very seriously. That recognition, […] Read more
The challenge of early weeds in soybeans
A two-pass weed control strategy makes a lot of economic sense
Reading Time: 5 minutes In an ideal world, it might not matter when a field of soybeans is sprayed, or whether it’s a soil-applied or post-emergence herbicide that’s used. But this isn’t an ideal world and application timing can be very important. So is the crop. In Country Guide’s spring Corn Guide, Dr. Peter Sikkema discussed the impacts of […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
