By relying on the Prairie pioneering ethic of self-sufficiency and independence, these farmers are breaking new ground. Instead of relying on a capital intensive model of farming, these producers are employing a variety of paths to making a living off of a limited land base.
Agriculture
Food Shortages: Think Big
However, just as livestock are eating the food that would have been consumed by poor Africans, so Americans are running their SUVs on it. One SUV tank of biofuel uses enough grain to feed an African family for a year.
Ethanol Policies May Be Hard To Fix
Four years ago, Dennis Avery warned that, as Western governments fell head over heels for biofuels, passing laws forcing consumers to buy them, “U.S. farmers, who should be exporting food to densely populated Asian countries with rising incomes, will instead turn their corn into ethanol … without benefit to the environment.” In barely a half-decade, biofuels have turned from the darling of environmentalists and policymakers — confident that petrol made from corn, soybeans or other plants would not just relieve us of our dependency on volatile Arab oil, but reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the process — to the target of blame for massive economic upheaval and environmental destruction.
Still Feeding The World
He has little patience for “well-fed utopians who live on Cloud Nine but come into the Third World to cause all kinds of negative impacts,” by scaring people and blocking the use of biotechnology.
Featured News
Demand Fairness from Ottawa and Edmonton
A few weeks ago, Albertans voted to reduce the inequities in the federal equalization program. The deficit between the dollars that leave to and come back from Ottawa has recently been as high as $27 billion in one year. During times of crisis, it feels like salt in...
Inflation: They Win, You Lose: Politicos, Cronies Fleece Canadians with Monetary Expansion
One of the most widespread economic myths is that inflation—the reduced purchasing power of a currency—is a win for a nation, a sign of a booming economy. For the privileged classes in government and with initial access to monetary expansion, it is a win. For everyone...
On Earth Day, Thank Agriculture
A celebration of environmental health should recognize its major cause, the modern farmer.
The Divine Right of Stagnation
Opponents of genetically modified grains claim that their property rights are transgressed when a neighbour’s crop migrates onto their land. Manitoba farmer and writer Rolf Penner examines their case.
Teleworking: A New Rural Opportunity
Things can’t get much worse for the farm economy. It’s time to look at other alternatives for economic advancement.
A Letter to the Prime Minister
Prime Minister Martin has an opportunity to institute real policy reforms for rural Canada to take people’s focus off scandal.
2003:Tough on Rural Manitoba
The BSE crisis is tough, but could prompt better trade relations.
A New Relationship with the Feds
Western Canada’s relationship with central Canada dates back to those days when the Prairie region was split into three provinces so that it would not be a future challenge to central Canada through its size or natural resources. Today, the West is a true economic powerhouse. It has the capacity to cooperate and it is time for a new federal relationship with the region. Hopefully a new Prime Minister can also provide a basis for an enduring new relationship.
Food Security and Property Rights
Private farms are the key to global food security.
Hamiota: Rolling Along
Hamiota continues to thrive, with the livestock industry as its base.
A New Fuel for the 21st Century
Pelletized biofuels produced from land under a permanent cover of native grasses shows great promise as a source of alternate energy.