Yuri and Oleksiy, farmers wearing body armours and helmets, prepare for field work in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region amid Russia’s invasion, on April 26, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino)

Worsening global food security needs Ukraine, Russia production, UN chief says

Abuja | Reuters — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday the problem of global food security could not be solved without restoring Ukrainian agricultural production and Russian food and fertilizer output to the world market. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February has added to volatility in financial markets, sending commodity prices higher and affecting logistics, […] Read more

A drone photo from the Sampona commune of Madagascar on Feb. 11, 2022, shows Zebu cattle drinking water from a large puddle created from Cyclone Batsirai. The island nation’s south has been experiencing severe drought for the past four years, putting it in danger of what the World Food Programme calls “the world’s first climate change famine.” (Photo: Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis)

U.N. to roll out global early-warning systems for extreme weather

London | Reuters –– With climate change fueling dangerous weather worldwide, the United Nations is pledging that early-warning weather monitoring will cover everyone on the planet in five years. “Half of humanity is already in the danger zone,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said earlier this week. And yet, “one-third of the world’s people, mainly in […] Read more



(William_Potter/iStock/Getty Images)

G7 ag ministers urge end to food export curbs as prices surge

Nations warn against 'speculative behaviour'

Hamburg | Reuters — Global food exporting countries should not restrict food exports after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cut world supplies, agriculture ministers of the G7 group of nations said on Friday. The impact on markets escalated this week as a growing list of food producing countries restricted exports, keeping vital supplies within their borders. […] Read more


Southwestern Alberta MP John Barlow, shown here at a parade in 2016, is again the federal Conservatives’ agriculture critic. (JohnBarlowMP.ca)

Conservatives’ Barlow to return as federal ag critic

NDP, Bloc incumbent critics to return

A former agriculture critic for the federal opposition Conservatives will again handle the file when the House of Commons resumes sitting in two weeks. Conservative leader Erin O’Toole on Tuesday named John Barlow, MP for the southwestern Alberta riding of Foothills, as shadow minister for agriculture, agri-food and food security. As ag critic, Barlow replaces […] Read more



File photo of Ontario cropland from the air. (IMNATURE/iStock/Getty Images)

Federal NDP introduces soil health bill

Proposal calls for a National Soil Health Advocate

The federal New Democrats propose to set up a plan they say could help build up Canadian agriculture from the ground down. The NDP’s agriculture critic, British Columbia MP Alistair MacGregor, on Monday introduced a private member’s bill in the Commons to create a national soil health strategy for Canada. The strategy as proposed in […] Read more

“We realized at some point in time, way back last spring, we’re all producing one thing, and that’s food, and we’d better start talking the same language. – Bob Lowe.

Focusing on the future while facing a pandemic

CCA president Bob Lowe reflects on the trials and silver linings of a tumultuous year

When Bob Lowe was elected president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) in March 2020, he couldn’t have anticipated everything the year ahead had in store. Mere days after CCA’s annual general meeting, Canada was in lockdown due to the pandemic, changing the trajectory of everyone’s year and presenting numerous challenges to the Canadian food […] Read more