sustainability Archives - Page 2 of 5

aerial photo of irregularly shaped manitoba cropland

Bless your mess: Crops may not be best for underperforming acres

Taking poorer-producing ‘messy’ landscapes out of crops may improve fields’ economics and farms’ sustainability

By Lee Hart March 6, 2024

UPDATED, March 7 — It might be difficult to consider “messy” fields as a pathway to improved crop production and profitability. But in the early going, a Prairie-wide university-developed research project suggests taking poor-producing acres out of annual crop production might be a means of improving overall efficiency, as well as the all-important bottom line. […] Read more

Photo: daoleduc/iStock/Getty Images Plus

General

Canada-made sustainability index gets funding boost

A pilot version of the index was published in May of 2023

By Geralyn Wichers, GFM Network News February 27, 2024

The federal government has pledged more than $3.1 million for the continued development of a made in Canada sustainability index for agricultural products.

Livestock

Funding set to improve Ontario deadstock removal, disposal

Application intake open as of Sept. 21

By Dave Bedard, GFM Network News September 25, 2023

Ontario’s livestock producers could see more and improved options for pickup and sustainable disposal of deadstock through a new federal/provincial program now on offer. The Ontario and federal governments on Thursday opened the intake for applications under what they’re calling the Increasing Deadstock Capacity Initiative, budgeted for $1.5 million over two years. The program, to […] Read more

Livestock, Markets

U.K. firm to process meats in Canada for Walmart

Plant would be Hilton Foods' first in North America

By Dave Bedard, GFM Network News September 20, 2023

A British-based firm processing proteins for the retail and foodservice sectors plans to set up shop somewhere in Eastern Canada, after reaching a deal to supply meat products to Walmart’s Canadian grocery business. Hilton Food Group announced Thursday it plans to open a new manufacturing plant in that region to supply Walmart Supercentres in Canada […] Read more

Dairy Cattle, Livestock

Dates moved up in dairy sector’s CUSMA compensation calendar

Calculation date will shift to Aug. 31

By Dave Bedard, GFM Network News July 12, 2023

Changes are being made to the timetable for the remainder of the program compensating Canada’s dairy farmers for market share lost to recent multilateral trade deals. The Dairy Direct Payment Program (DDPP), which issued $1.75 billion over four payments from 2019 to 2023 to compensate for the Canada-European Union (CETA) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade […] Read more

File photo of a field of soybeans under turbines at southern Manitoba’s St. Joseph wind farm. (Dougall_Photography/iStock/Getty Images)

Crops, Soybeans

Sustainable soybean program underway

Food-grade, IP soy growers showing interest in verification, Soy Canada says

By Dave Bedard, GFM Network News April 5, 2023

A new voluntary program spearheaded by Canada’s soybean value-chain group is expected to help Canadian soy growers seeking a sustainability mark for their goods. Soy Canada on March 28 announced the rollout of Sustainable Canadian Soy, a program it said will be available for the 2023 growing season. Exporters and handlers who supply customers that […] Read more

I can’t name one farmer who thinks his or her operation should only last for one generation. I can, however, name at least 12 farmers who routinely scoff at the word sustainability.

Columns

Toban Dyck: Ag shouldn’t play soccer when hockey is what it’s trained to play

I don’t want to write about sustainability, but I have to

By Toban Dyck March 6, 2023

There is a scene in the book The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary that is too graphic for me to write about openly. This work by Simon Winchester is one of my favourite reads and it galvanized in me a deeper appreciation for […] Read more

General, Weather

Feds open up consultations for sustainable ag strategy

Producer groups to have reps on advisory committee

By Dave Bedard, GFM Network News December 20, 2022

The federal government has enlisted farm groups on the ground floor of consultations toward development of a long-term strategy to “amplify” the adoption and use of sustainable practices in agriculture over the next year. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Dec. 12 announced the launch of public consultations on strategy development, running from now through March […] Read more

Investors are increasingly focusing on links between a healthy food system and efforts to fight global warming and preserve biodiversity. Photo: fotografixx/Getty Images

Crops, Markets, Reuters

U.N.-backed investors set fresh targets in sustainable food shift

By GFM Network News October 27, 2022

Reuters – A U.N.-backed group of global financial institutions including Dutch lender Rabobank on Thursday set out a series of company specific environmental and social targets aimed at helping drive a shift to a more sustainable food system. Set by a group of 11 firms in the Good Food Finance Network, including Nuveen Natural Capital […] Read more

Columns, Crops

What is sustainable agriculture?

Prairie farmers have adopted some of the most sustainable practices among agricultural producers in the world

By Ieuan Evans October 18, 2022

No, sustainable agriculture is not organic farming, wildlife management, having a mixed livestock and grain system or anything else. It is efficient, effective, common sense crop production. In recent years, Prairie farmers have adopted some of the most sustainable practices among agricultural producers in the world. Contrary to the naysayers who rant about the destruction […] Read more

U.S. livestock: Cattle markets up ahead of report

U.S. grains: Soybean futures fall after Trump-Xi call

Prairie Wheat Weekly: Western Canadian bids slightly decline

GFM Network News