Are James Herriot's days over? Sunday, March 4, 2012 Britain's animal agriculture faces the same challenges as does Canada's. There are too few vets in the countryside any more. It's worrying Agriculture Minister Jim Paice, who says more vets than ever are needed to stop animal disease outbreaks in intensive swine and poultry operations.A recent study by the University of Newcastle found that the time vets in private practice spend treating food animals fell by half between 1998 and 2006. As in Canada, 80 per cent of veterinary college students are female and all students are encouraged to specialize early.Britain knows more about animal agriculture epidemics than most Western nations, having undergone a BSE epidemic and survived a foot-and-mouth disease purge, both in the last 20 years.The James Herriot days of a country vet treating "all creatures great and small" are long gone, Paice says. BF Utah dairy farmers take on the power company Leasing land becomes a GMO question
A new front in the repair access debate Friday, March 13, 2026 Iowa lawmakers have pushed the right‑to‑repair conversation into new territory with House File 2529, a bill that focuses specifically on diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) systems—the single most common cause of emissions-related downtime on modern farm machinery. The bill would require... Read this article online
Senators examine Canada’s food system firsthand during southwestern Ontario fact finding mission Thursday, March 12, 2026 A delegation of Canadian senators conducted a full day fact finding mission on Friday, March 6, 2026, visiting several major food system organizations and research facilities across Southwestern Ontario. The tour supported the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry’s ongoing... Read this article online
Middle East conflict pushes fertilizer costs higher, forcing Ontario growers to rethink corn acres Wednesday, March 11, 2026 Ontario farmers are bracing for a turbulent spring as fertilizer and fuel prices surge in response to the escalating conflict involving Iran, a development that analysts say could reshape planting decisions across North America. The spike in nitrogen costs—the most critical and... Read this article online
March 8 is International Women’s Day Friday, March 6, 2026 Across the United States and Canada, women are taking on increasingly visible roles in agriculture—managing farms, leading ag-tech startups, advancing research, and strengthening the rural economies that feed both nations. Their work reflects a shift in an industry once defined... Read this article online
Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry to Visit Toronto and Southwestern Ontario Tuesday, March 3, 2026 The Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry will be in Toronto and Southwestern Ontario later this week as part of its ongoing study on the role of Canada’s agriculture and agri‑food sector in strengthening national food security. The fact‑finding mission is scheduled for... Read this article online