Agriculture

It’s always interesting to read about reports which are being released in the area of agriculture. Sometimes they bring to light some intriguing information. At other times you are left wondering why it took a report to unveil the obvious.

Everybody talks about free trade as something which we should aspire to. It is felt, at least by many, that unfettered trade would mean those who do the best job of production will prevail and supply those wanting products.

Strange things continue to inspire thoughts of farming for me. A couple of nights before the old year turned to the new I was watching Jeopardy.

As someone who grew up on a farm, and has covered the agriculture sector as a journalist for some 25 years, I have to say I find myself confused over the seeming wavering line between animal welfare and animal rights.

Sometimes a very random event brings a writer to an idea for a weekly column. Recently I was in a local sandwich shop in Yorkton and decided to try the spicy black bean offering.

With the recent financial issues of Broadacre Agriculture, discussed in this space a couple of weeks ago the issue of who owns land in Saskatchewan is back on the front burner for a time.

Canadian farmers have tried to diversify in a list of ways, both in terms of field crops, and livestock.

The evolution of farming is amazing, startling, crazy, and scary.

So the last two weeks I wrote about the retreaded ideas for addressing the concerns of grain transportation at the recent Grain Millers Harvest Showdown.

Who would have thought the humble honey bee would become the sounding bell to raise public concern over a growing environmental effort. The concern revolves around the apparent impact neonicotinoids have on bee populations.