Glacier FarmMedia – Is genetically modified wheat finally ready for prime time? Researchers at Agriculture Canada in Lethbridge have planted their first greenhouse plots of wheat with genes edited to better receive and use sunlight. Wheat is particularly suited for gene editing because its hexaploid (six parent) genome contains genes from three ancestral grasses. It’s […] Read more

Opinion: Barriers continue to fall for genetically modified wheat production

Opinion: Keep political bitterness out of Canadian food
Examination of food price inflation offers opportunity for government to explain the components of food pricing
Glacier Farmmedia – Some things are more apparent than real. If the price of food jumps by 15 or 20 per cent due to rising global inflation, it is assumed the difference between today’s price and last year’s price is in someone’s pocket. But whose? Canadian politicians have an opportunity to explain the components of […] Read more
Opinion: Carbon tax exemptions needed
Bill C-234, a private member’s bill that would exempt more farm fuels from the carbon tax, promises to meet some of the federal government commitments made when the price on carbon was originally planned. It is superior to a government-initiated bill, C-8, now being considered in Parliament. In the initial plans to put a price […] Read more

Comment: Multiple factors at play for fertilizer price increase
High prices in Canada are in line with prices globally
Glacier FarmMedia – Pressures on commodity fertilizer prices are similar to those on grains and oilseeds. Supply isn’t meeting demand and costs are up. Some farm groups and many producers question the legitimacy of rising costs and they want answers. Prices in Canada for urea have more than tripled in the past two years and […] Read more

Opinion: Cattle production victim of widespread story telling
Glacier FarmMedia – Cows aren’t the new coal and they aren’t the new Tesla. Catchy as a recent Time Magazine headline, “Cows are the new coal”, may have been, it isn’t true. But it does fit nicely into a well-crafted and biased narrative that now plagues the cattle industry. Carbon is used by plants to […] Read more

Opinion: Glyphosate a tool for farmers, not a politician’s tactic
Glyphosate review aimed to bring Canada’s limits in line with international norms
Glacier FarmMedia – Ahead of a federal election call, three federal ministers called a halt to a process that would likely have yielded quick results on increasing the maximum residue limits for glyphosate applied to dry beans, lentils and peas. Regular reviews of the scientific data for safe levels of pesticides on food products and […] Read more

Opinion: Better case needed for farm-saved seed royalties
Given that seed companies have the ability to negotiate contracts to collect royalties, the definitive argument for government regulation to sanction royalties applied to saved seed has yet to be made. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is in the midst of a consultation process on a proposal to determine whether royalties on saved seed should be […] Read more