We examine the link between poor research methodology and poor public policy.
Agriculture
Sacred Cows: Guess Who’s Getting Milked
In the past 14 years, incidentally, the price of industrial, supply-managed milk has doubled – twice the rate of inflation and more than 30 times the increase in the actual cost of milk production on the farm, where the number of cows has fallen by 40 per cent. Canada’s surviving dairy farmers are, in fact, remarkably productive. These asset-rich millionaires, hard working though they are, don’t need welfare cheques any longer.
Milk Price Fixing Must End
Supply management is also a straightjacket, keeping new producers out of the market unless they can buy precious quota, propping up the inefficient, and stifling innovation.
Eat Beef if You Care About Environmental Conservation
Increasing North American beef consumption supports extensive cattle ranching which, by the way, is a very environmentally sound form of food production.
Featured News
What Must Be Done to Curb Canada’s Household Debt
Canada is struggling economically. From inflation and deficits to investment and employment, everything that should be up is down, and everything that should be down is up. One striking symptom of economic rot is household debt, which is rising faster than incomes....
Crown Utilities’ Unfair Advantages Reduce Competition, Innovation
Largely unique among state-owned enterprises, ‘SEOs’, worldwide, Canadian Crown corporations have two key advantages over current and future private sector competitors: non-taxable status and access to low-cost public sector borrowing rates. Other implicit edges...
Some Policy Ideas for Rural Voters
Rural project director Robert Sopuck muses about election thinking for rural voters.
U.S. Anger Clouds Rural Economy
Canada’s clumsy positioning on the Iraq conflict will cost the rural economy on several pressing trade fronts
Luddites Running the Show
Why is Australia with its large, lightly subsidized, export oriented, and innovative rural sector deciding to ban the most promising advance in agricultural technology in a generation?
Functional Foods & Nutraceuticals-Agriculture’s Next Wave
New research centre at the University of Manitoba to focus on nutraceuticals and functional foods
Asking More Hard Questions About Ethanol
More groups questioning ethanol subsidies
Australia’s Dairy Reforms
An overview of Australia’s recent dairy reforms and the country’s phase out of marketing boards. A temporary consumer levy on milk is being applied to partially buy out quotas, the most difficult aspect of marketing board reform.
Foreign Policy Impacts Rural Economy
Canada’s foreign policy confusion the war on terrorism risks significant trade repercussions for rural economies.
Preserving Identities
Western Canada needs to take advantage of new and specialized wheat markets that pay premiums for high quality wheat.
The Perils of Subsidization
South Dakota livestock industry has declined due to grain subsidies, Manitoba’s thrives in their absence.