Must be an urban myth. None in MB or AB that I can think of. Some guys are contracted to grow organics or specialties but no "corporate" farms.
2010 food crisis for dummies
- Thread starter darkbeaver
- Start date
So what do you think of the UG99 problem? It's going to stop spreading like wildfire because of????
In Manitoba...Elite Swine Inc., JV Hog Farms Ltd., Hamiota Feedlot Ltd., Sun Valley Hog Farms Ltd......
Ug99 fungus, called stem rust, could wipe out more than 80% of the world's wheat crops as it spreads from Africa, scientists fear. The race is on to breed resistant plants before it reaches the U.S.
June 14, 2009|Karen Kaplan
The spores arrived from Kenya on dried, infected leaves ensconced in layers of envelopes.
Working inside a bio-secure greenhouse outfitted with motion detectors and surveillance cameras, government scientists at the Cereal Disease Laboratory in St. Paul, Minn., suspended the fungal spores in a light mineral oil and sprayed them onto thousands of healthy wheat plants. After two weeks, the stalks were covered with deadly reddish blisters characteristic of the scourge known as Ug99.
Nearly all the plants were goners.
Crop scientists fear the Ug99 fungus could wipe out more than 80% of worldwide wheat crops as it spreads from eastern Africa. It has already jumped the Red Sea and traveled as far as Iran. Experts say it is poised to enter the breadbasket of northern India and Pakistan, and the wind will inevitably carry it to Russia, China and even North America -- if it doesn't hitch a ride with people first.
"It's a time bomb," said Jim Peterson, a professor of wheat breeding and genetics at Oregon State University in Corvallis. "It moves in the air, it can move in clothing on an airplane. We know it's going to be here. It's a matter of how long it's going to take."
Though most Americans have never heard of it, Ug99 -- a type of fungus called stem rust because it produces reddish-brown flakes on plant stalks -- is the No. 1 threat to the world's most widely grown crop.
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico estimates that 19% of the world's wheat, which provides food for 1 billion people in Asia and Africa, is in imminent danger. American plant breeders say $10 billion worth of wheat would be destroyed if the fungus suddenly made its way to U.S. fields.
Fear that the fungus will cause widespread damage has caused short-term price spikes on world wheat markets. Famine has been averted thus far, but experts say it's only a matter of time.
June 14, 2009|Karen Kaplan
The spores arrived from Kenya on dried, infected leaves ensconced in layers of envelopes.
Working inside a bio-secure greenhouse outfitted with motion detectors and surveillance cameras, government scientists at the Cereal Disease Laboratory in St. Paul, Minn., suspended the fungal spores in a light mineral oil and sprayed them onto thousands of healthy wheat plants. After two weeks, the stalks were covered with deadly reddish blisters characteristic of the scourge known as Ug99.
Nearly all the plants were goners.
Crop scientists fear the Ug99 fungus could wipe out more than 80% of worldwide wheat crops as it spreads from eastern Africa. It has already jumped the Red Sea and traveled as far as Iran. Experts say it is poised to enter the breadbasket of northern India and Pakistan, and the wind will inevitably carry it to Russia, China and even North America -- if it doesn't hitch a ride with people first.
"It's a time bomb," said Jim Peterson, a professor of wheat breeding and genetics at Oregon State University in Corvallis. "It moves in the air, it can move in clothing on an airplane. We know it's going to be here. It's a matter of how long it's going to take."
Though most Americans have never heard of it, Ug99 -- a type of fungus called stem rust because it produces reddish-brown flakes on plant stalks -- is the No. 1 threat to the world's most widely grown crop.
The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico estimates that 19% of the world's wheat, which provides food for 1 billion people in Asia and Africa, is in imminent danger. American plant breeders say $10 billion worth of wheat would be destroyed if the fungus suddenly made its way to U.S. fields.
Fear that the fungus will cause widespread damage has caused short-term price spikes on world wheat markets. Famine has been averted thus far, but experts say it's only a matter of time.
Those aren't farms.
Those are know as "pork barns".
Which by the way the majority of are in serious **** in more ways than one.
Perhaps we don't have a clear definition of a "corporate farm?"
(The hog operations are also known as pig factories, hog factories, and a bunch of other names). I agree - they're pretty sh*tty operations all the way around!
Hamiota Feedlot is a beef operation, but same idea...
Yup and most are big financial trouble. Small producers no longer have facilities to raise pork once the big barns die out. The big producers killed the little guy now the big operations are failing fast.
StatCan report on future of "corporate" farming.
Are Canada's Large Farms Really Different?: Findings
Conclusions
The trend toward larger farms seems to be strongly reinforced by the financial results achieved by those farms. Debt appears to be an essential component of growth but for most farms, the payoff resulting from investment is significant. Higher incomes and higher investment may ensure the trend continues. Although many worry that these larger operations will increasingly become non-family farms, results from the Census of Agriculture (Statistics Canada 2007) indicate that the opposite is occurring: while there are a growing number of corporate farms, the proportion of those corporations owned by families is increasing. The family farm of the future may be corporate, multi-generational and focused on growth and profitability. That in turn may be beneficial for the both competitiveness of Canadian agriculture and for farming families.
Are Canada's Large Farms Really Different?: Findings
Conclusions
The trend toward larger farms seems to be strongly reinforced by the financial results achieved by those farms. Debt appears to be an essential component of growth but for most farms, the payoff resulting from investment is significant. Higher incomes and higher investment may ensure the trend continues. Although many worry that these larger operations will increasingly become non-family farms, results from the Census of Agriculture (Statistics Canada 2007) indicate that the opposite is occurring: while there are a growing number of corporate farms, the proportion of those corporations owned by families is increasing. The family farm of the future may be corporate, multi-generational and focused on growth and profitability. That in turn may be beneficial for the both competitiveness of Canadian agriculture and for farming families.
Our little family farm is 3200 hectares. We aren't big by any means but aren't small either if we were smaller there wouldn't be any money in it. For us it isn't about making money but keeping the land in the family.
5 sections used to be huge. Keeping the land is a good thing; sad that more farmers couldn't...
edit - 3200 HECTARES! (Thought I read acres there...) That's not small, is it?
