November 2018—What do you do? Jennifer Dyck tested me with this question at CROPS-A-PALOOZA in Portage la Prairie in July. Jennifer is the manager of Canola Eat Well for Manitoba Canola Growers and she used her ‘PALOOZA station to coach farmers and farm industry people on how to talk to consumers. She led every encounter with...
Read More September 2018—Nobody likes to get beat over the head with “you should do this” messages. A large percentage of people don’t like to get told what to do at all or by any means: Beat over the head. Rap on the knuckles. Kid gloves. But how about subtle persuasion? Here is a series of memorable events...
Read More March 2018—Chuck Penner, in his canola outlook in this issue, forecasts Canadian canola acres at 23.75 million, another record for queen canola. Is this too many for long-term canola sustainability? Think back to 2014. The Canola Council of Canada launched its Keep It Coming strategy, with a target of 52 bu./ac. average yield and a production...
Read More January 2018—I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions, but I have one specific work goal for this year: To increase Canola Watch subscriptions by 50 per cent. Canola Watch is an email update to address real issues – insects, diseases and more – found in canola fields across the Prairies. It comes out each week during...
Read More 
November 2017—Pork supply in Japan was 2.17 kg per person per year in 1961. (I know pork isn’t canola, but stay with me.) Pork supply in Japan rose steadily over the next 50 years to 20.51 in 2011. The rapid adoption of pork into the diet was even more dramatic in China, going from 2.36 to...
Read More
