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The papers shelf
Longer pieces on the questions Canadian agri-food policy keeps coming back to. Each sits at a web address with its own history, and shows the date it was first posted there.
Dairy and supply management
- Reforming dairy supply management in Canada: the options on the tableQuota exchanges, pricing formulas, tariff cuts and buyouts: a plain guide to the reform options for Canadian dairy, and what Australia and the EU chose.First posted 5 March 2013
- Pressures on Canada's supply-managed dairy sectorSurplus skim milk, protein imports, shrinking milk glasses, trade talks and fewer, larger farms: six forces pushing on Canada's managed dairy system.First posted 3 December 2012
- The milk supply management debate in Canada, explainedProduction quota, import tariffs and cost-based pricing: how Canada's milk system works, what each side argues, and a worked example of why quota costs so much.First posted 23 November 2010
- New farmers and alternative markets inside supply managementWhy quota cost keeps newcomers out of dairy, eggs and poultry, how small-flock limits and new entrant programs work, and where niche markets fit in Canada.First posted 16 June 2010
Trade and markets
- Ractopamine, Russia and the pork trade: how a feed additive becomes a trade barrierRactopamine makes pigs leaner on less feed. Why some countries ban its residues, what Codex decided in 2012 and what a ractopamine-free supply chain costs.First posted 27 February 2013
- Ethanol policy and the livestock feed billFuel mandates turn corn and wheat into ethanol, so livestock feeders bid against the plants for grain. How the cost passes through, and what DDGS returns.First posted 31 January 2012
- Boxed beef explained: cutout values and wholesale beef marketsHow a beef carcass becomes boxed cuts, what the cutout value measures, how it links to cattle prices and packer margins and what BSE did to the Canadian market.First posted 6 February 2006
- What decides where Canada raises and processes hogsFeed grain, freight, packing plants, manure rules, labour and export markets all pull hog production in different directions. How the pieces fit in Canada.First posted 1 March 1999
Food prices and retail
- Is food really dearer in Canada than in the United States?Cross-border shoppers swear food is cheaper in the US. Sometimes it is. A look at exchange rates, scale, distance, taxes and supply management, item by item.First posted 9 June 2014
- How food inflation is measured and forecast in CanadaFood inflation comes from a weighted basket, not a till receipt. How Canada measures grocery and restaurant prices, what moves them and how to read a forecast.First posted 16 January 2014
Farm business
- Why Canadian farms keep getting largerSeventy years of census data show fewer, bigger, more capital-heavy farms in Canada. Here is what drives the trend and what it means for rural towns.First posted 3 August 2012
Value chains and food waste
- Cutting food waste as a business decisionFood a business throws away was paid for twice: once to buy it, again to bin it. How plants and stores treat waste as lost margin, with a worked bakery example.First posted 25 March 2014
- Sustainability certification schemes for fruit and vegetable growersGlobalG.A.P., CanadaGAP, organic and retailer codes all ask growers for audits. What each scheme covers, what it costs a small farm, and how they overlap.First posted 9 December 2013
- Environmental farm plans and what food buyers ask of farmsFood companies want proof that farms are run sustainably. How Ontario's voluntary Environmental Farm Plan works, and whether it can serve as that proof.First posted 28 June 2013
- Where food is wasted along Canada's value chainFood is lost at every link from field to fridge. A stage-by-stage look at where it goes in Canada, why it is so hard to measure and who can change what.First posted 24 September 2012
- Local food: what drives demand and what gets in the wayShoppers say they want local food, yet little of it reaches supermarket shelves. Why demand is strong, what blocks supply, and how food hubs bridge the gap.First posted 16 October 2007
- What agri-food can learn from the keiretsu supplier modelJapanese carmakers built long-term supplier networks that cut costs together. What keiretsu means, how it worked and what farms and food firms might borrow.First posted 26 February 2001
- Quality management in food businesses: beyond the checklistHACCP plans, ISO 9000 certificates and quality manuals help, but they do not make quality on their own. Where the ideas came from and what makes them work.First posted 1 March 2000
Policy notebook
- A short history of farm business risk management programs in CanadaFrom crop insurance in 1959 to NISA, CAIS, the Growing Forward suite and Ontario's own program: how Canada's farm safety nets evolved and the design questions.First posted 25 July 2012
- Species at risk on farmland: incentives, costs and alternativesWhen rare species live on private farmland, the rules meant to protect them can backfire. How habitat law shapes landowner incentives, and what works better.First posted 14 September 2010
- Measuring productivity in Canadian agri-food against other industriesLabour productivity, multifactor productivity and why farms and food plants score so differently: a plain guide to the measures, with a worked index example.First posted 1 January 2001
Food and rural economy
- The economics of Ontario's craft cider makersA small cidery is an orchard, a factory and a shop at once. How apples, licensing, taxes and retail channels shape the money behind a bottle of Ontario cider.First posted 28 October 2013