Animal transport regulations: time for change
Imagine travelling—mostly standing—more than two days and two nights without water, food, or rest. Yet 52 hours is the allowed travel time for Canada’s cattle, sheep and goats, according to federal animal transport regulations. For pigs, poultry and horses, the prescribed time is 36 hours without water, food, or rest. That’s in addition to the […]
Is another dust bowl coming?
GUELPH, ONT.—In the 1930s, a bad drought and an economic malaise upended farming systems around North America causing the Dust Bowl. Could climate change and the persistent post-2008 economic doldrums do the same? On one hand, the environmental signals are sobering. The drought in California seems to be long-lasting and even this year’s record El […]
Action needed to help drought-stricken small farmers in Africa
A massive drought that has devastated huge swaths of southern and eastern Africa is putting nearly 14 million people at risk of hunger. This is a humanitarian emergency demanding immediate action. But while short-term action to address current food needs is critical, the international community must also take ambitious action to support smallholder farmers in […]
Bernier’s frank talk on supply management starts Tory leadership race on right foot
TORONTO—During my previous political job, I had the opportunity to talk and privately meet many people in Ottawa, including then ministers of the former government of Stephen Harper. I learned a lot during those meetings and I had a chance to know good people and politicians. One of those who impressed me the most was […]
The road to Paris goes through Bamako
The famous transcontinental road races, like the Paris-Dakar and the Budapest-Bamako rallies, have something in common with the race against climate change: they are gruelling, and they go through Africa. The global effort to respond and adapt to climate change must also go through Africa: through the fields of the farmers of the world who […]
TPP
Farming issues getting heard on Hill, agricultural lobbying up 50 per cent from last year
Representatives of Canada’s farming industry have been stepping up their lobbying on Parliament Hill in recent months, with trade being one of the main areas of discussion. Communication reports filed in the federal lobbyists registry show that some of the agricultural groups that have had communications with federal officials in April include the Canadian Cattlemen’s […]
Small farmers can feed a country, but they need help
WINNIPEG—There is good news to report from the field concerning the level of hunger in the world. It’s down. It has decreased by more than 100 million people in the last decade. But one in nine people in the world still experience chronic hunger. The Food and Agriculture Organization calculates that around half of the […]
Canada should reassert itself as a global leader in food security: Experts
It’s a ‘timely time’ to talk about food security; tomorrow is Earth Day and world leaders, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, will be gathering at the United Nations to formally sign the Paris climate agreement. And considering that climate change and the resulting weather unpredictability is a major contributing factor to insufficient food supplies, and […]
Extend women’s empowerment to the farm
WINNIPEG—Zione Mbewi is a great farmer. In recent years she increased yields on her small plot of maize in northern Malawi, and helped provide for her family. She also had big plans to expand her fields. Her husband, however, had other plans. He wouldn’t give her any more land. Since, as a woman, Mbewi doesn’t […]
