Newsletter #25: Farmers aren't public intellectuals
June 11th, 2026
* Blog post: The urban-rural divide is about class, not beliefs
* I was on the radio!
* Where I've been
* Where to
What we're learning
The urban-rural divide is about class, not beliefs
I embarked on my tour with a great ambition: to bridge the nascent partisan divide that is growing in Canada. My hope was to bring rural com
Newsletter #24: The great plains are empty
May 25th, 2026
* Depopulation is a policy choice
* Where I've been
* Where to next
* Updates from On Tour
* Watch the film
* Foll
Depopulation is a policy choice
On the prairies, it's a bit unremarkable to say "we are losing our rural communities".
Newsletter #23: Can't buy me love — or food security
May 18th, 2026
* Blog update from the road
* Where I've been
* Where to next
* Updates from On Tour
* Watch the film
* Follow the
How welfare creates food insecurity
"Can't buy me love, oh. Love, oh. Can't buy me love, oh. Oh!"
The Beatles said it best in 1964. There are things that mon
Newsletter #22: The cement that binds community
May 4th, 2026
* What brings people together?
* Where I've been
* Where to next
* Vlog On Tour
* Watch the film
* Follow the tour
How feudal are our farmers?
There's a question that haunts me when I'm lying in bed pondering what The Hands that Feed Us is really about: Are we at risk of reverting to feudalism?
Why Food Insecurity isn't a Subset of Poverty
Money may be a possible solution for starvation, but no matter how hungry you are, you still can't eat it.
Capitalism doesn't invest in farms is because capitalism for farming is broken
The cost of land is a big reason why the capitalist is necessary in the first place. In business terms, land is a capital cost: It's a big, up-front cost that has to be paid out of the farm's profits over time, but it only needs to be purchased once.
What the Stats on Farmland Prices Don't Tell You
The story I tell — that the average farmer will be dead by the time the average farm is paid for — is a classic example of lying with statistics.
Your Local Farmer isn't on Salary
One of the first rules of business I learned was this: Pay yourself first.
What makes a Healthy Business Environment for Farmers?
Canadian farmers struggle financially because the business environment they exist in is not a healthy one.
Why Food Businesses don't stay Small
Farms — by their very nature — will always be a poor investment if the goal of investment is to find high-growth unicorns. And, without that investment, farms will always have a disadvantage in market power compared to the giant companies that they do business with.