OPINION: Farming is good — good year for crops, lots to be thankful for I don’t recall a summer that was better for growth than this summer. Many farmers took off four good cuts of alf... Read more
OPINION: I’m a joker, not a thief I was a bit of a cowboy in my younger years and always liked a good joke. I remember the days when my bachelor neighbour Casey Ryan left the front door unlo... Read more
OPINION: Trade deal turns ugly Hollywood has trained us all to think in terms of good guy and bad guy. Batman good, Joker bad. We almost feel compelled to categorize every situation into her... Read more
OPINION: Record keeping is a persistent annoyance on the farm Last year was a horrible year. We bounced from one thing to another instead of taking our time, talking things out and doing it... Read more
The political economy of lettuce: Why Mexican lettuce outsells local lettuce and how big business controls markets Summertime is the time to enjoy fresh food at its finest. As the warm month... Read more
OPINION: Super El Nino anxiety pushes up grain prices But real weather impact will have final say I really don’t trust weather forecasts. After having spent the first 45 years of my life in... Read more
Shut up, shut it off, and listen James Pascual Farmers Forum Cheering at a sporting event can be fun. Talking loudly with friends can have its exhilarating moments. But most noise — the clan... Read more
OPINION: Predators are everywhere A sheep farmer covers the pros and cons of sheep farming while promising not to embellish I was talking to sheep farmer Tom Joad and told him I was g... Read more
OPINION: Our grandparents didn’t walk around with water bottles You have probably seen it on a television newscast. There’s a political announcement, a press conference, a briefing — somethi... Read more
OPINION: Goodbye democracy We live in discouraging times. Most Canadians don’t seem to realize that we have hit a terrible turning point from which we might not recover. We are in new... Read more
High-speed rail is a high-speed money sucker If you told me that the federal government was planning on spending $50,000 on a home refrigerator, I would be outraged. I understand the value o... Read more
OPINION: Want to grow your farm? Be a good manager As much I love farming, it’s a business first and foremost, and business takes good management: especially of your people Year... Read more
OPINION: She was the antithesis of the Jersey breed, she was Punch Drunk Bob was a slight 50-something Grenville County Jersey dairy farmer with a little too much attitude. He... Read more
After 50 years of cropping… The next generation retired me “Change is the law of life” said John F. Kennedy before an assassin’s bullet ended his short presidency and, indeed, his life... Read more
OPINION: So much s**t happens on a farm, why does the dairy board have to pile on with penalties? If there is one thing I have learnt over the years it is that s**t happens no matter what yo... Read more
My favourite: A mountaintop view of farmland as far as the eye can see For me, spectacular scenery is being on top of a mountain, or a high ridge, and looking down over a valley of flat agri... Read more
OPINION: The big, beautiful nothing burger The government of Canada last month announced it will introduce a national food security strategy, which sounds great. We’re told there will be mor... Read more
Bill C-34 will undermine privacy, parental rights… and be used to shut you up Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms Special to Farmers Forum Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act,... Read more
The Inconvenient Truth meets inconvenient facts 20 years ago, Al Gore produced a hyperbolic film that scared the English-speaking world Santiago Pascual-Meagher Farmers Forum This yea... Read more
The man they called Sunflower Harold Campbell was 88-years-old, completely bald and had a round head that looked a little off. It just didn’t look right, kind of like an off-centred mailbox... Read more
What to do with plastic wrap when the landfill won’t take it It is one of those memories that you don’t forget: the day our neighbour wrapped his harvested round bales of hay in white plasti... Read more
OPINION: Want a good weather forecast? Observe the sky — are old rhymes true or do they lie? It was in the middle of May, in the early 1970s, and a cold north wind blew day after day. I was... Read more
OPINION: A look back at 50 years of federal agriculture ministers A few days after a federal election campaign started some years ago, a farmer called me to chat about farming issues and pol... Read more
IS CANADA COOKED? Canada headed toward communism and youth should get out, constitutional expert says. The rest of us should pray, push back “Thou art a traitor: Off with his head!”... Read more
Chipping away at supply management with fake milk Most farmers producing supply-managed commodities (milk, poultry and eggs) in Canada thought that the passing of Bill C-202 on June 2... Read more
In case you haven’t noticed, we are not going back to the Canada you grew up in anytime soon. We might never go back. It’s not just that crazy is at the door or that unscrupulous politicians... Read more
OPINION: In this messed up world prepare for shortages The world is messed up. Countries are re-aligning their partnerships, western leaders in predominately white and formerly Christ... Read more
Living one of the best lives on Earth The Wheelers have launched into ‘crazy’ upgrades adding maple sap silos and high-efficiency measures to their tradition of syrup wizardry Vernon Wheeler... Read more
OPINION: If consumers want protein, they will get protein If you have noticed shoppers pouring over food labels in the stories and assumed they were still checking for Canadian- vs. American... Read more
Alberta independence is the way to go James Pascual Farmers Forum Like it or not, Alberta is going to vote on whether or not to separate from Canada. Thousands of people have already lined u... Read more
OPINION: A misunderstanding about a BULL, a PIE and a GIRL Dave Power was a 25-year-old crop farmer of the sort that Eastern Ontario breeds like mosquitoes in a stagnant pond — sturdy, solit... Read more
How Maynard stays healthy He wears a hat, drinks lots of water, eats citrus fruit, takes cod liver oil, works outside every day and eats pickled herring I do everything I can to stay healthy... Read more
OPINION: It was right to cull the ostriches They became the centre of a fight with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) for the past year in regards to euthanizing ostriches due to Avi... Read more
DUMPING NET-ZERO: Net-zero carbon worshippers overplayed their hands and voters howled. Now countries around the world are retreating from the high cost of going green James Pascual F... Read more
Ottawa’s use of Emergencies Act to crush Freedom Convoy in 2022 was illegal …and here’s why, lawyer argues John Carpay The Federal Court of Appeal has thankfully affirmed a powerful 20... Read more
Say no to an unnecessary and expensive goat marketing board RE: January 2026 edition “Goat Vote” on goat producers voting this year on whether or not to form a marketing board. When you stat... Read more
Who is running Canada? Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was in China last month where in his own words he was repositioning Canada for the “New World Order.” What does that even mean? Car... Read more
OPINION: Our Christmas — Home-cooked everything, almost, and no opening gifts until after the cows are milked If anyone were to ask our four children if Christmas on the farm was diffe... Read more
OPINION: The prodigal son Let me tell you about young Caleb McAllister, third and least essential son of Angus McAllister who farms 400 acres of the rockiest, stingiest clay in Renfrew Count... Read more
OPINION: Classic rock work day Funny how hard work in a loud space seems to require hard rock cranked up As the demands of vegetable growing die down, this business of building a hous... Read more
OPINION: The state vs. the ostriches — Rules are rules, says food inspection agency Nelson Zandbergen Farmers Forum Lack of evidence of sickness in the 300-plus doomed bi... Read more
OPINION: The man who cheated at the Holstein show with a cow that became a legend In the rolling hills of Eastern Ontario, where the air smells faintly of maple syrup — that gives it away, w... Read more
OPINION: Thank you foodie Mom! Thanksgiving dinner with Oma gives pause and time for warm memories of her Spartan sensibilities and hard-nosed work ethic Morgan and the kids and I got to spe... Read more
Tariffs 101: U.S. tariffs are paid by U.S. buyers The tariffs imposed worldwide by Donald Trump are perhaps the most misunderstood and misinterpreted thing any politician has ever said or do... Read more
LIAR LIAR… Carney’s pants are on fire Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney held a pre-budget press conference on Oct. 23 and in 60 seconds declared six things that are untrue at best or... Read more
The man who could grow corn Warren Jenkins was a corn and soybean legend north of Maxville. He was the kind of guy who’d stare down a tractor tire like it owed him money. He was focused. But... Read more
More common sense advice from old cranky pants A farmer slapped me on the back at a crop plot gathering of farmers in my neighbourhood last month and asked me what cranky pants Maynard was g... Read more
OPINION: New hate bill and you are the target Fear and hatred are emotions that fluctuate and are impossible to measure but our Canadian Liberal government plans on measuring them anyway and... Read more
The seven sisters (all Holsteins) from Hell I was recently asked, “In the years you have been writing, which column had the greatest and most varied responses from readers?” It didn’t take m... Read more
OPINION: Families-first is a Canada-first plan that would unleash prosperity
OPINION: Families-first is a Canada-first plan that would unleash prosperity Jobs, livelihoods and people’s futures are being threatened from so many directions. We read that a... Read more