farmers

In nearly every region of the country, farmers are on the front lines of the climate crisis, and they can play a key role in mitigating its impacts.

The U.S. dairy lobby pays big money to make sure its products are top-of-mind for Americans, but some critics worry that the demand-focused strategy is leaving smaller farmers behind — and accelerating climate change.

Crops are getting planted later in the year than ever as killer winter frost delays its arrival in Ontario. Berries in British Columbia devastated by recent climate-driven extreme heat and floods are moving into the controlled climates of vertical farms. 

The B.C. government is pairing up with agriculture groups in a bid to help ranchers and farmers prepare early as the province anticipates a second year of extreme drought as the climate crisis advances.

The commitment comes after a devastating cold snap in January that is feared to have wiped out almost the entire 2024 wine vintage in B.C., and slashed harvest forecasts for stone fruit by 90 per cent. 

Lenore Newman, director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, said many in Western Canada have an "Old MacDonald image" of farming that is no longer realistic or sustainable.

One of the first indicators of how bountiful a fruit harvest will be in British Columbia comes months before any peaches, apricots or nectarines start fattening on trees.

For months, Will Robbins has been praying for snow. The organic grain and cattle farmer's Saskatchewan fields are "tapped out" of water after three back-to-back years of drought.

Farmers seeking relief have argued there are few, if any, alternatives for them other than using natural gas to heat their barns and propane to dry their grain.

The vote came less than a week after the use of the controversial chemical herbicide glyphosate in the 27-nation bloc was extended for 10 more years.

A new study based on breeding bird surveys found that grassland birds reacted even more negatively to corn and soybean fields than they did to land used for oil and gas development.

With more than 400 active wildfires still burning in B.C. and many residents yet to return to their homes, it's too early to know the fate of the province's honeybees.

The loss of forests across Africa has long been documented. But recent studies show that small farmers from Senegal to Ethiopia to Malawi are allowing trees to regenerate on their lands, resulting in improved crop yields, productive fruit harvests and a boost for carbon storage.

The weed war, which puts more than $528 million in crop losses on the line each year in Canada alone, has for the past 50 years been fought with an arsenal of toxic herbicides that harm human health and contribute to the biodiversity and climate crises.

Climate change is making droughts faster and more furious, especially a specific fast-developing heat-driven kind that catches farmers by surprise, a new study found.