Heavy rainfall has seen the second flood in four years on the Prairies, leaving provinces and farmers looking for solutions and consumers on the hook with higher prices. Text by Nicolas Heffernan Norm Hall’s family carved their farm out of the bush on the southern shores of the Quill Lakes in Saskatchewan 133 years ago. He’s been working the land …

JEFF MORRISON’S NEW COOKBOOK URGES CANADIANS TO USE ALTERNATIVE PROTEIN SOURCES… LIKE MUSKRAT Text by Hermione Wilson Nature columnist, blogger, author, wildlife enthusiast and self-professed outdoors guy Jeff Morrison spends a lot of time in the great Canadian wilds hunting, trapping and fishing. Growing up in rural Quebec, Morrison spent a lot of time hunting with his family and living …

Interview By Theresa Rogers Michael McCain knows the food biz. It’s been his life, having grown up and worked with his father, Wallace McCain, who started McCain Foods in 1956. Now, as President and CEO of Maple Leaf Foods, McCain is making a name for himself as the leader who captained the company through a tragic food recall in 2008 …

In the wake of recent pet food recalls, consumers are willing to spend more on premium, quality ingredients for their animals Text by Chelsea Shim Your dog would gladly eat the food off your plate, but would you eat what’s in its bowl? Dorothy Hunter would. Hunter, owner of Paws Natural Pet Emporium is an advocate for all-natural, premium pet …

AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CANADIAN SWINE INDUSTRY Sinisa Vidovic1 | Bernardo Predicala2,3 | John R. Lawrence1 | Darren R. Korber1* BACKGROUND The rapid emergence of the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) in North America has significantly impacted hog industry operations as well as the supply of market hogs. While known to have caused outbreaks for several decades in Europe …

Mike Dixon is on standby: ready and waiting. He just needs a mission. The professor of environmental biology at the University of Guelph and Director of the Controlled Environment Systems Research Facility (CESRF) has been leading cutting-edge research growing plants in controlled environments. His research is pulled by the goal of growing a plant on the moon, with the ultimate …

Tom Gill1* | Richard N. Patterson2 Importance of Aquaculture in Canada: The latest available fisheries statistics1 indicate that the “farm gate” total dollar value of fisheries in Canada is ~ $2,954,459,000. The aquaculture landings in that year represented a value of $825,457,000 and the farmed salmon landings were valued at $598,845,000 (~72 per cent of total aquaculture). Globally, Canada is …

Two of Ontario’s largest honey producers, Sun Parlor Honey Ltd. and Munro Honey, have filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of all Canadian beekeepers to recover damages suffered by beekeepers due to the widespread use of neonicotinoid pesticides. If successful, beekeepers who join the lawsuit could recover losses and damages from as far back as 2006. The Statement of …

Natasha Vandenhurk, CEO of Three Farmers, is on a mission to educate Canadians about camelina, an obscure edible oil from Europe Text by Nicolas Heffernan “It’s definitely been an uphill battle,” says Vandenhurk. “Oils are a very hard category for people to understand as it is. There are so many different facets to it, like smoke points and flavours and …

Susan Niczowski has taken Summer Fresh Salads a long way in two decades. In 1991, Niczowski left her job and started the company with her mother in her kitchen. “I was very fortunate she supported me both financially and mentally and then we started chopping away,” she says. Back then, hummus wasn’t exactly filling grocery store shelves. “I had to …