Lisa Thompson was recently named the new minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs for Ontario, another in a line of female agriculture ministers from Huron-Bruce. I’ve known Thompson for a long time and she’s spent her life in agriculture. I remember riding the bus while I was taking the Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program (AALP) […] Read more
Tag Archives editorial — page 4
Editorial: The two routes to agriculture minister
Editorial: Farmers have a YEN for more useful data
I was sitting in the livestock pavilion at the University of Guelph’s Ridgetown Campus during the SouthWest Agricultural Conference when I first heard about yield enhancement networks and thought they were a great idea. A cross-border version of the Yield Enhancement Network (YEN) was recently announced for wheat in Ontario and Michigan. It aims to […] Read more
Editorial: The thorny issue of people on your land
There are more people roaming around rural Ontario during the pandemic and that’s increased concerns about trespassing and trash that finds its way onto farms. We live on a corner property and one of the side roads that runs along our farm is a no-winter-maintenance road. Early in the pandemic it became a magnet for […] Read more
Editorial: Will agriculture seize the moment?
There’s growing interest from outside the traditional agriculture world in what’s happening on the farm and the arrival of new ideas and people will change the sector in ways we can’t yet predict. I continue to hear stories from people about academics with no connection to agriculture becoming involved in agriculture research. Consultants say they […] Read more
Editorial: Inflation worries
Gen Xers have enjoyed the stability the economic system has given them
I’ve been lucky to have spent most of my adult life in very stable economic times. Interest rates have been low and steady. Global trade and economic growth have been measured and predictable. Governments mostly spent within their means. Then the pandemic roiled trading systems, supply chains and supply and demand and that’s made me […] Read more
Editorial: Lessons from political speeches
There’s rarely enough news in politician visits to farmer group meetings to justify a report. Sometimes there’s an announcement to be made and then they let the farm media know in advance that we need to pay attention. The script is usually similar: Tell farmers, with exact numbers, how many members they have in their […] Read more
Editorial: Lessons from an enthusiastic agriculture IPO
Farmers Edge has gone public on the TSX, the stock exchange in Toronto, and the large interest around it saw share price rise quickly after the launch. The company is a Winnipeg-based provider of data-driven agronomy and farm management services. An initial public offering (IPO) allows a company to raise funds and sell ownership of […] Read more
Editorial: A tempest in a butter wrapper
I pondered whether to add more copy to the head-scratching and manufactured debate over palm fat in dairy nutrition and the subsequent effects on butter hardness, but I think the recent flurry of mainstream media coverage provides some lessons. To recap: Food sector pot stirrer Sylvain Charlebois of Dalhousie University is a master at bringing […] Read more
Editorial: Regulatory agility critical to ag innovation
The pandemic has shown that governments can make decisions quickly
One of the lessons of the pandemic and response to it by governments and regulatory agencies is that regulatory agility is possible. COVID-19 vaccines have been approved with record speed, and from what I can find, the government says that the same vigour of process has also been applied. The only point missing is long-term […] Read more
Editorial: A willingness to be better
There’s value in the move by farm groups to include diversity and inclusion as parts of their driving principles. There was significant online debate about Beef Farmers of Ontario’s new diversity and inclusion statement. Beef Farmers of Ontario lists seven points in its commitment to diversity, but this paragraph in its statement on the subject […] Read more
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