Our Food Industry Which Includes Our Dairy Industry is Killing Us

I think we should start with free trade between provinces. 

This thread is really about dairy food is killing us and eating bugs is the way to go.

There is a thread on the economics of our dairy industry and the trade potentials of imports and exports.

and I didn't start it just to humour myself.

Pogo wrote:

I don't know if the hormones we fill our dairy cows with are much different than the hormones Americans fill their dairy cows with.

We have restrictions on the use of bovine growth hormone and antibiotics that are much stricter than the US's.

Timebandit wrote:

"Yes. We call them "Triple A farmers": April, August and Arizona."

You have to be ignorant of Saskatchewan farming to believe Triple A.

Seeding starts in May.

Harvest wraps up in late September and into mid October. Some farmers cannot get their crops off before winter settles in.

The only crop that can be taken off in August is fall rye.

Misfit, I'm from Regina. I lived there for 47 years, my family arrived there in 1883. My partner's family farms around Davidson, has done since the early 20th century. There isn't much you need to tell me about farming on the prairie.

Although it may be dependent on what part of the province you're in, the majority of prairie farmers do not keep livestock anymore. Certainly, none of the farming cousins do. Seeding can take place any time from late April to into May. And I was responding to the comment about "commodity farmers". Essentially, with improvements in chemicals and equipment, the fact that most family farms are now large corporate farms that don't keep animals, the salt-of-the-earth, ultra hard-working farmer is a rare creature these days. And once the kids are mostly grown, there is significant winter time spent in a warmer clime. So if we're going by observation, I'd say mine is as significant as yours is.

I mean, do we really need to "Not all farmers" this?

ETA: And then there's my BIL and his family, who share an organic farm in southwest SK - run as a sort of family co-0p, they are all professional musicians. They come out to farm in the summer, sometimes someone winters over at the farm, but often not. It's not necessary to have someone tend the farm full time over the winter because there's no livestock.

It's also perfectly possible to do the number crunching etc. from Arizona. I hear they have wifi down there.

Yes, I work in the film and television industry. However, I have multiple connections to people in farming, as I outlined above. Oddly, my work in television had me spend 18 months profiling a small town that was dealing with a dwindling population due to family farms selling off to larger operations. They were in danger of losing their school and other services because large farms - without livestock, for the most part - means fewer people, and fewer young people. Oddly, many of the farm people I was dealing with weren't available through the whole winter.

That's not even getting into the people that I know personally because I'm related to them.

Find anyone who lives in Regina or Saskatoon and you'll find connection to farming on some level. I don't know what "at the farm gate" means, specifically. But you're never far removed on the prairies. Even in Winnipeg, which is more than 3x the size of either Regina or Saskatoon, most people have family connections still on the farm.

I don't think I claimed there are a "mass" of farmers who are going to Arizona. I said a significant number, and if you did a poll, I think you'd find that once the kids are gone, many farmers spend time away from the cold. Many like Arizona, but some go to Mexico or Florida. And the farmers I personally know who do this will be delighted to discover they don't exist.

RE: seeding. Well, I've seen seeding start earlier. And if not actual seeding, the start of the process, which is preparing fields and equipment in advance, which happens in mid to late April. That's the point my BIL heads out to the farm. If it's dry enough, they'll seed early. If not, they wait. Either way, the process, prep included, starts in April.

I have no idea why you think I'm making this up.

The most ignorant people about farming that I have ever met live in Saskatoon and Regina. They are ignorant and have disgraceful stereotypes about farmers.

most farmers cannot afford to go south for the winter. And that is a fact.

and 98% of seeding starts in May. The earliest seeding by a slim minority of farmers starts April 25, 26 weather permitting. In southwest Saskatchewan and south of the Trans Canada like around Estevan you may have farmers start in April (april 25, 26) but seeding starts in May for most farmers. And that is a fact.

knowing people who farm does not qualify as expertise on farming. Never has and never will. I personally know civil engineers but that does not qualify me to talk about civil engineering and the same is true for farming. It is more complex a topic than you think.

Here is a seeding forecast for central Saskatchewan for this year dated April 25.

http://www.cjwwradio.com/2018/04/26/central-saskatchewan-farmers-hope-to-start-seeding-by-first-weekend-in-may/

in my community in central Saskatchewan, there are three farmers who every year as a tradition start seeding in late April. Most farmers wait until the ground warms up more before they start.

Our family starts a week later than most farmers. My family finds that their crops which are planted later germinate faster and can catch up some to earlier crops because they were planted when the ground is still cold. 

Maybe farmers in Saskatchewan start seeding in May so they can spend more time in Arizona?
; )

there seems to be a shortage of cracker barrel cheese here in BC. i guess it must have something to do with the tariffs.

the cheese coolers are full of armstrong only unless you go speciality.

any other provinces notice no cracker barrel? i went shopping in AB and got some and was surprised their sizing and packaging is different than BC too.

The good news is, when we've drank enough BGH, we can all be Russian Olympic athletes.  :0