A veteran of the North American beef industry says he has no doubts he can turn a long-shuttered Alberta beef packing plant into a profitable business. Rich Vesta, the former CEO of the North American beef division of Brazilian meat packing giant JBS, has set up a temporary headquarters for a new family-owned company, Harmony […] Read more
Hart: Alta. packer to restart with eye on premium market
Harmony comes to Rancher’s Beef
A veteran of the North American beef industry, who worked his way through the business from a meat cutter to a top executive of one of the largest meat processing companies in the world, says he has no doubts he can turn a long-shuttered Alberta beef packing plant into a profitable business. Rich Vesta is […] Read more
Healthy, natural, organic trend spreads
In some respects the term “consumer demand” always seems a bit elusive because I am never sure when consumers organize to say we want this or that, but retailer and processor demands are pretty real. It was interesting to read recently that A & W, the second-largest burger chain in Canada, is switching to only […] Read more
When an old dairy farm goes to the goats
Even though I have never been a full time farmer, and in fact I haven’t lived on the Eastern Ontario family farm where I was born and raised for more than 40 years I felt a bit of a twinge earlier this year when family members were planning to sell the place. It was the […] Read more
Tama launches improved bale wrap system
John Deere and bale wrap manufacturer Tama are launching a new product this fall, which they say will elevate the quality of round bale wrap to that of indoor storage. John Deere will be the exclusive distributor of the B-Wrap system that will include an almost solid layer of material in each bale covering to better protect […] Read more
How the world shapes up today
The Freeman-on-the-land issue in Alberta, noted a few days ago, appears to be resolved. This is the story of a woman who rented out a house to a guy who appeared to be a good tenant and shortly after he took occupancy he announced he was part of the Freeman-on-the-land movement, stopped paying rent, gutted […] Read more
Landlords watch out for the whacko “Freemen”
In the category of “it’s a crazy world” I have been following a story the past few days of this Alberta woman who rented a house to man who later declared he was part of an organization known as “Freemen-of-the-Land” and he has now declared the house his embassy and she can’t get rid of […] Read more
In the heart of corn and soybean country
Corn and soybeans as far as the eye can see (or at least ‘til the next tree line) and nary a combine anywhere from Virginia, to Pennsylvania, to New York and now back into Eastern Ontario…the harvest has yet to begin. A lot of crop out there and from a casual observation much of it […] Read more
Time to straighten out the USDA
Well I am heading into Washington, D.C. this morning. Sure it may look like I am on holidays, but the main purpose of my mission is to straighten out the Americans on a number of issues, including Country of Origin Labeling. I looked in a couple grocery stores in Virginia and saw no sign of […] Read more
History behind the Virginia ham
Here’s a photo of the Virginia militia in training to fire on the British as they fight for independence back in 1776. I didn’t have the guts to raise my hand and say “hey, I have British roots”….bad enough I am a Canadian. This military display is part of the daily demonstrations in the old […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
