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The fields of discontent

The fields of discontent

A report from CNN details the Ukraine farmers’ ongoing struggle against wildfires, fields wired with landmines, or just being too darn close to the expanding battlegrounds between its country’s freedom fighters and the invading Russian Federation military.

By Andrew Joseph, Farms.com; Image via CNN

While no one will ever dispute that the life of a farmer in North America isn’t rife with uncertainties such as extreme weather, labour shortages, and fertilizer costs, ad infinitum, brethren over in Ukraine have it worse.

Currently, many farmers in Ukraine struggle daily with wildfires burning their crops—whether naturally occurring or deliberately set is unknown—the added concern of their fields planted by enemy landmines, and even artillery flying overhead as they work their farmland.

Mortar hits have also taken out farm infrastructure, with barns, sheds, and animal shelters taking damage, not to mention the farm equipment—it almost makes one long for a simple beetle infestation to be the concern of choice.

Military helmets and flak jackets have become part of the daily clothing for farmers, and even that is no guarantee of personal safety.

And, should a crop be safely harvested, what to do with it? It’s not just a Ukraine concern, it’s a global one.

CNN reporters Tim Lister and Petro Zadorozhnyy have written about the plight of the Ukraine farmer. Click HERE to read.


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Alberta Honey: A Day at Molenkamp Honey Farms

Video: Alberta Honey: A Day at Molenkamp Honey Farms

When was the last time you read the label on your honey?

We spent a day at Molenkamp Honey Farms with Michael Molenkamp, who has been keeping bees for 17 seasons and runs three to four thousand hives. In mid-September, he was finishing treatments and getting his bees ready for winter, and he walked us through how Alberta honey gets made.

Alberta has just 150 commercial beekeepers running 300,000 colonies, and together they produce 40% of Canada’s honey. Long summer days and golden canola fields give Alberta honey a light flavour that’s hard to match anywhere else.

Molenkamp calls Alberta beekeepers some of the most resilient farmers he knows. There’s plenty of Alberta honey to go around, but a lot on our shelves isn’t from here, so his ask is simple. Give the label a second look and choose honey made by Alberta beekeepers, or buy straight from a beekeeper near you.