Purdue University – The label on organic, fair-trade coffee and clothing doesn’t always tell the full story. In some cases, companies are working behind the scenes to provide more than just higher earnings by helping marginalized farmers secure land and protect it from logging, mining and large-scale agriculture operations. This is true with organic coffee […]
By Kim Harrisberg England | Thomson Reuters Foundation – “You are standing in the world’s most biodiverse location,” proclaimed a yellow poster at the door of the largest global collection of wild plant seeds, sunk in an English hillside. The underground concrete vault in West Sussex is part of the Millennium Seed Bank, where rows […]
By Ralph Pearce Glacier FarmMedia staff Brett Israel is looked upon as a young, entrepreneurial producer with one eye firmly fixed on the road ahead, while honouring and respecting those who have come before him. It can be a bit of a tightrope walk for Israel, whose family has been farming on the same concession […]
By Karla Mendes, Anuradha Nagaraj and Inna Lazareva Thomson Reuters Foundation On three continents, three women have taken three different paths to find healthy and tasty solutions to one of the world’s greatest health crises – poor nutrition. Chef Bela Gil found her solution in Brazil’s Amazon; in India, Anahita Dhondy discovered her answer in […]
By Jennifer Betzner Glacier FarmMedia staff John Brunsveld and Justin Bell found opportunities in the Ontario organic milk market, and they talked about it at the recent South Western Ontario Dairy Symposium. Brunsveld produces organic milk on his farm, milking 125 cows. Bell farms in Chatham-Kent and was accepted into the Organic New Entrant Quota […]
By Robert Arnason Glacier FarmMedia staff Millions of Canadians have obsessions and compulsions. Some buy lottery tickets. Others, for reasons likely based in insanity, have to root for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Brenda Tjaden has a different compulsion — running her own business. “I’m a serial entrepreneur. I just couldn’t resist it,” said Tjaden, the […]
By Gord Gilmour Glacier FarmMedia staff Travis Heide knows many look at One Organic Farms in Waldron, Saskatchewan and wonder if it’s really an organic farm. The question isn’t whether they technically qualify — the farm meets all the required standards and ticks all the right boxes. It’s whether they hew to the spirit of […]
By Alexis Kienlen Glacier FarmMedia staff James Thiessen has been growing hemp for eight years, but this past year he did something different — gave part of his harvest away. The organic hemp grower from La Crete was approached by Hemp Production Services to join the Two Acre Challenge and was happy to participate. “I […]
Ty and Janice Shelton have made significant improvements to their potato yields by properly managing their soil By Jeremy Simes Glacier FarmMedia staff The Shelton family has managed to turn their once sandy soils into something rich and fertile, a testament to their ongoing commitment to improve the land. The proof can be seen in […]
By Alexis Kienlen Glacier FarmMedia staff Although Ben Campbell is a third-generation rancher, he didn’t have an operation he could take over. And when he looked at the math for starting his own ranch, it was worse than ugly — he figured he’d need $3 million in assets to generate an income of $50,000. “I […]
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