“Sustainability” is a cliché woven into so many Western government and organizational communications, we’re exhausting its meaning and welcome. Read more
I remember when the Ontario Milk Marketing Board (OMMB) was created in August of 1965. It wasn’t a happy occasion for most milk shippers in Ontario. The OMMB encountered resistance among dai... Read more
Got Canada Revenue Agency issues? Arm yourself with patience Back in 2020, the Canadian Revenue Agency admitted that its security system had been breached mid-August by hackers... Read more
If there is a lesson to be drawn from the farmers’ protests in the Netherlands, it’s that a small segment of a population, if desperate and angry enough at the unjust and intentional destruc... Read more
Artificial intelligence will majorly disrupt the entire economy in as little as three years’ time, if some of the experts are to be believed. The amazing but somewhat scary technology, we ar... Read more
When anyone thinks of farmers, words such as tough, capable, hard working, inventive, independent, disciplined, efficient, come to mind. Read more
There is something I don’t understand about people and it really perplexes me. Read more
Steve Kell’s Market Minute Agricultural commodities markets tend to have a reliable seasonal cycle to them, and that “seasonality” in prices is almost entirely the result of weather du... Read more
The first Food Day Canada will be celebrated on August 5. But is it a day of celebration? Some nationally recognized days are for celebrating. Others are for honouring or mourning. Christmas... Read more
As good arable land becomes harder to find, the less likely farmers will be to sever any lots, especially at the larger sizes that by-laws now require. Read more
I’m not one to take courses. The number of courses I’ve taken in the last 57 years since I left school in 1965 can be counted on one hand. Read more
Angela Dorie Farmers Forum CORNWALL — Our phone rang for the fourth time that Sunday afternoon, the same unknown number. Husband working the land, I answered, knowing it would be the same as... Read more
The first Food Day Canada will be celebrated on August 5. But is it a day of celebration? Some nationally recognized days are for celebrating. Others are for honouring or mourning. Christmas... Read more
After retiring from keeping livestock five years ago, I needed something to do that would make the long winters go by quicker ... Read more
If you are of a certain age or had parents who were diehard fans of “Dragnet,” the popular 1950s police crime drama, you will remember Sergeant Joe Friday and the phase ... Read more
Make what we need at home, reduce pollution, create well-paying jobs Read more
I got some groceries on the first snowy day in November and was rather amused to see a few shoppers come out of the store with a long handle ice scraper among their groceries ... Read more
On November 15, the world’s population reached eight billion people ... Read more
They beg for more oil and coal for themselves while telling developing lands to rely on solar and wind ... Read more
One of the things which Ontario grain farmers are going to remember about the 2022 harvest for many years is just how fast this year’s harvest went ... Read more
Maynard van der Galien Renfrew County I’m a history buff and was reading through the Renfrew County Federation of Agriculture’s first minute book that begins in 1941 and goes to 1960. There... Read more
Angela Dorie Backroads Nothing like waiting until the last minute DFO demands for more milk with little warning leave farmers scrambling The morning of October 1, 2022, the men... Read more
Troubled American actor Shia LaBeouf found God while living in his truck in California. He had come to the end of himself, presumably finding nothing much left that he liked and even had a g... Read more
One of the really interesting things about the fall of 2022 has been how good the weather was for harvesting beans, (both edibles, and soys), and replanting those fields into winter wheat. Read more
1958 Canadian documentary captures harvest time Read more
Angela Dorie Backroads Our day-old turkey poults arrived in the middle of June, another step to self sufficiency (aka spending as little at the grocery store as possible). We haven’t... Read more
Ensure grounds are smooth for walking and don’t turn it into a flea market Read more
Matthew Lau Fraser Institute Another school year has come to an end. Eventually, there must be a full accounting of the extraordinary restrictions of economic and civil liberties that govern... Read more
Patrick Meagher Editor The Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) has embraced net-zero by 2050 and have persuaded hard-working dairy farmers to embrace the same goal. And who wouldn’t? Tell me you h... Read more
Maynard van der Galien Renfrew County Whenever high winds or fire topples or destroys old barns that were a relic of the horse and buggy days, reporters often trot out to the farm and do a s... Read more
Jay Goldberg Canadian Taxpayers Federation Sign first, then we’ll discuss the details. Nobody would trust a real estate agent or used car dealership with that approach, but that’s how the Tr... Read more
Patrick Meagher Editor Why didn’t Prime Minister Trudeau come out of hiding back in February, throw a bbq bash on Parliament Hill, and announce an end – even in the near future — to the vacc... Read more
On Wednesday, June 22, 2022, the Canadian Dairy Commission announced they were increasing the price paid to dairy farmers for their milk by 2.5%, which works out to $1.92 per hectolitre or... Read more
OPINION: Farmers keep driving, buying expensive diesel but change field plans due to sky-high inputs
The one thing that really impressed me when spending a weekend in the Russian city of St. Petersburg a few years ago was that there were almost no cars on the streets on Sunday. Read more
Our farm is fairly self-sufficient, but diesel and gasoline are breaking the budget Angela Dorie Backroads Open any paper, turn on any radio or TV and stories of rising prices are always for... Read more
The purpose of price is to ration demand. It’s a simple concept, but when we allow ourselves to star-gaze at these record high prices, we forget this simple truth. Read more
Six months before Russia invaded Ukraine, many Canadian farmers booked their Russian fertilizer and for their good planning, they are now paying a 35 % tariff penalty to the Canadian governm... Read more
Nelson Zandbergen Assistant Editor ROEBUCK — There’s a famous Norman Rockwell painting — Free Speech — in which the artist depicts a man standing at his chair and earnestly voicing his opini... Read more
Maynard van der Galien Renfrew County American poet Robert Frost penned the popular expression “Good fences make good neighbours” in his poem The Mending Wall back in 1914. In the poem he qu... Read more
Food supply chain hangovers due the pandemic and the global impact of the invasion of Ukraine have enticed many to question the global nature of our food systems. Some are suggesting we need... Read more
Over the past decade, the global elite’s obsession with climate change has taken away from the many other major problems facing the planet — shown most dramatically by the invasion of Ukrain... Read more
It’s an election — there will be mudslinging, gimmicky promises, and sometimes lofty or untested policy concepts without a price tag. So, what do businesses want? Read more
I’m going to start off with a confession. While contemplating potential column topics for both the January and February issues of Farmers Forum, I wrestled with the idea of a “what if” essay... Read more
To quote a book by Pope John Paul ll, We are crossing the threshold of hope. But we are not going in the direction he intended. Read more
Angela Dorie Backroads Dairy Trace (DT), operated by Lactanet Canada that is also doing the proAction and cattle inspections as well as herd management for the Canadian dairy industry, was d... Read more
Maynard van der Galien Renfrew County In the spring of 1981, when I was paying off an FCC farm mortgage for the on-going dairy operation we’d bought in 1970, I bought something extraordinary... Read more
I’m going to start off with a confession. While contemplating potential column topics for both the January and February issues of Farmers Forum, I wrestled with the idea of a “what if” essay... Read more
Nelson Zandbergen Assistant Editor It’s a top-down, command-economy, central planner’s fantasy come true. But Justin Trudeau’s recently released “Climate Action Plan” is truly disturbing for... Read more
The recent UN climate summit in Glasgow was predictably branded our “last chance” to tackle the “climate catastrophe” and “save humanity.” Like many others, US climate envoy John Kerry warne... Read more
