Tinkering with a system in clear need of an overhaul is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. In March, the Winnipeg lab of Intertek, a global commodities testing firm, received an unusual request. Manitoba farmer Paul Orsak brought in wheat samples from...
Agriculture
We Are All GMOs
We are all genetically modified organisms (GMOs), all 7.1 billion of us and every other creature on earth produced by sexual reproduction. We are all a random combination of our mother’s and father’s genes and are therefore genetically unique modifications. Only...
Pesticide Bans Not Worth The Cost
Beginning next year, Manitoba will begin enforcing a province-wide ban on most uses of synthetic weed killers and other commercial pesticides. All private yards and most public green spaces, such as sports fields, will be affected by the ban. More expensive, and...
‘Smart Growth’ Not Necessary To Protect Farms
Urban sprawl is still regarded as undesirable by city planners, but the arguments against it are changing. The planners have long maintained that limited development should be allowed beyond existing urban boundaries, as long as there are areas in the core that could...
Featured News
The Swedish Response to Covid-19 versus Canada
In a recent New York Times article, David Wallace Wells asked, “How did No-Mandate Sweden End up with such an average pandemic”. Let’s be clear. This admission from the New York Times, who tried to destroy the response to Covid-19, starting in April 2020 and...
Draconian, Anti-Science Measures During the Pandemic Has Led to Loss of Trust in Our Institutions
Candida Auris is a fungus that, unlike most fungi, can survive in a human body. It is capable of spreading within the body, resulting in an agonizing death. For unknown reasons the fungus is spreading at a rather alarming rate. So far, cases have been confined to long...
The Supply Management Cartel: Collective Inaction and the Failure of Reform
Executive Summary • Supply management in Canada is a marketing board system that sets production and prices for dairy, poultry and eggs. Farmers must purchase quota in order to produce and sell product, which is collectively valued at $25-billion. The benefits of the...
How would Canadian Prairie Agri-Business deal with a Dalton Minimum Repeat?
Ray Garnett analyzes recent data and discusses the role that solar activity plays in shaping summer climates in the Prairie Provinces.
Mark Lynas – Lecture to Oxford Farming Conference
I want to start with some apologies. For the record, here and upfront, I apologise for having spent several years ripping up GM crops. I am also sorry that I helped to start the anti-GM movement back in the mid 1990s, and that I thereby assisted in demonising an important technological option which can be used to benefit the environment.
An Activist Recants on GM Foods
Environmental journalist Mark Lynas used to think that genetically modified crops were evil. But now, Mr. Lynas has recanted. He admits he was unequivocally, disastrously wrong about GM foods, and he’s offering his apology.
Canada’s Organic Food System is a Nightmare
As the holidays approach, Canadians are spending more time purchasing and preparing foodstuffs for their family tables. They’re also looking for appealing, tasty, nutritious goods that will not upset their budgets. Be prepared for the seasonal, united...
Pierre Desrochers, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.: ‘The Locavore’s Dilemma: In Praise of the 10,000-mile Diet’
The Frontier Centre interviewed Pierre Desrochers in Calgary on October 25,2012. His unique strength as one of the most well-known critics of the locavore movement is his knowledge of a broader set of issues than other critics who have attacked only one facet of this movement.
Canada’s Organic Nightmare
A sustained assault is being levelled against agriculture across North America. It comes generally from environmentalists but more specifically from the organic industry, which survives, for the most part, by levelling unfounded attacks against any form of food that...
Media Release – Canada’s Organic Certification System is an Emperor with No Clothes: Lacks field testing, unannounced inspections or meaningful definitions
Canada lacks a system for testing organic products, making the system open to abuse, conflict of interest situations and foreign exploitation.
The “bacon shortage” story is journalism at its shoddiest
Global bacon shortage ‘unavoidable.’ So read the headline on CBC’s website for one of the most poorly reported stories in recent memory. The actual story is that poor corn yields this year will push up feed prices, which will translate into higher costs for hog producers. This leaves the industry two options: produce less, or raise prices. While either scenario will lead to a decline in bacon consumption, neither will lead to a “shortage.”