New Brunswick's incumbent agriculture minister and opposition ag critic are bound for a legislature under new management following Monday night's election.
New Brunswick ag minister headed for opposition bench
Liberals topple Higgs' Tory government in election
B.C.’s ag minister downed in fraught election
Governing party to be confirmed next week as votes recounted
Pam Alexis, the minister of agriculture and food for David Eby's New Democrats since late 2022, was defeated in her constituency of Abbotsford-Mission in Saturday night's election by Conservative challenger Reann Gasper, by a spread of almost 2,700 votes.
Expect stalks and stubble to become more stabby
Also: rubber is most prone to trouble from stubble when brand new, before it can harden naturally
Don’t let its adorable little yellow flowers from the summer fool you — canola today can be “like little rebar” in your tractor tires. That was a late takeaway from an ag tire clinic for farmers at Melfort, Sask. in July, hosted by staff from retailer Kal Tire and manufacturer Firestone Ag. It’s not that […] Read more
Editor’s Rant: The message of the medium
I’ve certainly lived in enough places where the FM options on your car radio all fade away before arrival. So even if it’s not my first choice in the car or anywhere, if you’re worried about the potential disappearance of AM radio service, you won’t need to work hard to convince me. My own personal […] Read more
Editor’s Rant: The traveller’s dilemma
I note with interest that the organization formerly known as the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association has picked a venue for its next annual convention. I mean “with interest” as in “I’ll be interested to see if they get the same blowback they got 25 years ago, but I’m betting not.” The group, which recently […] Read more
Editor’s Rant: Seeds, saved
Against a changing climate, this is how we adapt
Before we all get much farther into this book, it needs to be said: Folks, we’re not trying to bright-side climate change here. It’s far beyond dispute that Earth’s climate is changing — in part due to natural factors over time such as changes in the sun’s radiation and the occasional volcano, but mainly due […] Read more
New tools clear paths for canola’s next steps
Gene editing, artificial intelligence bring new efficiencies to the process
Recent technological advancements applied to canola breeding are already making selection a more efficient process. On an industry panel during Ag in Motion in July, asked about what’s next in the canola development pipeline, breeders and developers with Bayer spoke of the new processes and pathways they can now use to get there. One significant […] Read more
Editor’s Rant: Bumper sticklers
Crop forecasting is a thankless job, but necessary
They were good calls at the time. Just a few weeks ago a clutch of farm writers from across Canada converged on Glacier FarmMedia’s Ag in Motion show west of Saskatoon. Some of those writers, myself included, drove past quite a lot of handsome crops en route. In some stretches, the usually blue watery mirages […] Read more
Former federal ag minister Chuck Strahl dies at 67
A memorial service is planned for Aug. 23 in Chilliwack, B.C. for Chuck Strahl, the logger turned politician who served about a year and a half as federal agriculture minister in Stephen Harper's government, helping carry several of its policy plans through to completion.
From AIM: New tech opens paths for canola’s next steps
After Bayer’s “dream team” panel of canola breeders and developers at Ag in Motion to discuss their work on “the highest-yielding DeKalb canola hybrid yet,” an audience member posed the inevitable question: What’s next?