THE RURBAN FRINGE

Farmers Markets Must Cater to the Consumer

Local food is cool.  It’s a trend seen everywhere these days … on TV, in newspapers, online.  Yet even with the expansion of many markets catering to food that is grown and produced locally, there are many more farmers markets who struggle to remain open.
Why?  Poor or no market management is typically one reason.  But perhaps [...]

Cattle-Powered Computers?

Cattle have been put to a variety of uses, but a new research paper suggests that they could be the key to powering the next wave of computer innovation. 
“While not immediately intuitive, the idea plays on two trends:  the building of computing centres in more rural locales, and dairy farmers’ efforts to deal with cattle [...]

Product Branding and Ag Career Focus Program

I’ve been catching up at FarmOn.com these last few days … with a post about why branding your beef (or any other ag product) is important to the consumer. 
You can find more information about such product branding at Government of Alberta, Agriculture and Rural Development’s website.
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Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada offers a Career Focus Program aimed at recent graduates [...]

Success … at any Cost?

I’ve been catching up at FarmOn.com this week, with a brief post designed to stimulate discussion about the US investigation into agricultural giant Monsanto’s alleged anti-competitive practices.  Click here to have a read. 
On the flip side, this article from the National Post makes a case for encouraging responsible, sustainable bio-tech innovations … within the larger context of [...]

A Looming Ag Industry Crisis

In both Canada and the US, a disturbing trend is poised to become a much greater crisis … that of a sweeping worker shortage in the agricultural industry. 
Everyone knows that rural and farm demographics have been steadily declining for decades.  What everyone may not know, however, is how that directly affects agricultural labour … impacting the [...]

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