Book Excerpt With the agriculture prices being driven up during the 1970s due to the global scare that the world was going to suffer an impending food shortage, governments rushed to flood the market with more food. This sudden increase …
Zinchuk: The Feds Greenhouse Gas Programs Mean this for Saskatchewan: Strangulation
Premier Scott Moe thinks the overwhelming mass of federal environmental programs in the name of preventing climate change is getting to be too much. So on Oct. 21, he released a white paper called Drawing the Line: Defending Saskatchewan’s Economic …
Farmers as Enemies of the State – The Black Art of Wedge Politics
Never underestimate the value of a good enemy are words political operatives live by. The core objective of wedge politics is to create a visible opponent, entice them to an angry response, and then vilify them as the barbarians who …
Lessening Saskatchewan’s Reliance on Commodity Bonanzas
Saskatchewan is the beneficiary of elevated pricing and improved long term prospects for nearly all of the many commodities it produces: grain, oilseeds, oil, gas, potash, uranium, and even gold, copper and forestry products. While this very good news for …
Days of Supply Management May Finally Be Coming to an End
Canada’s supply management system is a textbook case for food sovereignty. But the social contract the system represents may need to be redrafted as we head toward North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiations. Supply management is a social contract …
“Don’t Yell ‘Whoa’ In A Mud Hole”: Devine’s Aproach To Tough Times In Agriculture (1982-1991)
Kerri L. Holland The primary objective of agricultural diversification is to facilitate economic stability and prosperity for the agricultural industry and the larger economy. Moreover, the topic of diversification is best understood within the broader discussion of agricultural sustainability and …
It’s Time to End Supply Management
Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate Maxime Bernier has come out against the long standing practice of agricultural supply management for dairy, poultry and eggs. It is rare for a Canadian politician to take on this issue, but the evidence …
Grain gets poor grades
Canada’s grading system has made it a laggard and laughingstock. In heralding the end of the Canadian Wheat Board in 2012, former Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz proclaimed that Canadian farmers finally had the right to sell their wheat and barley …
How Canada’s grading system is ‘robbing’ farmers of value
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 …