May 2008 Archives

Blog entries from early May ("Just Fiddlin...?" and "Just Fiddlin...? (Part 2)") painted a picture of the extent of unresolved policy issues in Canadian agriculture. As we indicated in those earlier entries we would post follow-up blog entries that estimated the costs of having improperly aligned policy. This entry is the first follow-up entry; in it we will provide a rough cost estimate for one of the issues - namely transportation. The estimates that we provide are by no means a complete costing of the issues; in fact we encourage comments on our assumptions and alternative ways to valuate the policy issues. This preliminary evaluation shows that the costs of a poorly functioning rail transportation system could be in the range of $400 million to approximately one billion dollars. At the same time, only a very small amount of analysis is being undertaken to resolve this policy issue.

The Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association(SSCA) is launching its on-line journal at this year's Western Canadian Farm Progress Show (website). KIS introduced the journal in last week's blog entry and this week we are posting two more article summaries from the upcoming journal. If you have not already done so, please read last week's entry by Juanita Polegi, SSCA Project Manager, to learn more about the Ag Tech Journal.

The goal of the KIS project at the U of S is to create a discussion of the issues facing agriculture and rural communities so that individuals and the industry generally are better able to adapt to a rapidly changing world. Through the Illative Blog we are pleased to showcase an initiative by one of our partner organizations, the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association, that is designed to do just that. Over the next several weeks, we will be posting summaries of articles that will appear in the inaugural edition of Prairie Soils and Crops: Scientific Perspectives for Innovative Management that will be officially launched in late June. Readers of the Illative Blog are getting a sneak preview of what is to come in this exciting new online journal.

To read an introduction from the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association and an article summary from the upcoming journal, click here.

The Western Canadian Farm Progress Show in Regina will be the site of the launch of Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association's new web-based Ag Tech Journal. The new journal will be unveiled June 18.

Last week's Illative Blog entry (see link) highlighted three issues that we think are critically in need of examination and analysis. This week we examine three additional issues, followed by a discussion of why the capacity to analyse these issues is limited.

Agriculture has been making headlines over the last few weeks and months, as higher food prices and soaring fertilizer stock prices have focused the country and the world's attention on the production of food. The issues are important - rapidly rising commodity prices, for instance, are making it extremely difficult for the world's poor and very poor to get enough to eat. While attention has to be paid to these global issues, attention also needs to be paid to what are clearly domestic issues - issues that not only threaten the competitiveness of the Canadian agricultural sector but also affect our ability to be a reliable and secure food supplier.