Mmm, there’s nothing quite like cracking open a bag of fresh, crunchy potato chips.
I confess to consuming more than my fair share of the salty snacks over the years and love seeing what new flavours will be coming out next.
But one thing I’ve certainly never really thought too much about was how the contents of that crinkly bag get there in the first place.
I mean, I know chips come from potatoes and that there are farmers who specialize in growing potatoes – but that was pretty much the extent of my potato knowledge.
Well, as it turns out, there’s nothing easy about growing a perfect potato chip potato.
And after spending a couple of hours with Ontario farmer Jack Murphy on his Alliston-area potato farm recently, I have a whole new perspective on the contents of that chip bag – and on the work that farmers put into growing those potatoes just right. Continue reading Where potato chips are grown
The winter blahs have well and truly set in, especially for those of us who can’t escape by heading south. Last week’s few short days of warmth and sunshine seemed to transform our drab winter world as people reawakened and remerged. Everyone was talking about the weather those few days — because that’s what we do as Canadians, we talk about the weather.
They’re calling for a mostly normal season this year – hurricane season, that is. And that’s a relief to many, not only those who live in traditional hurricane areas in the Caribbean and along the Atlantic coast, but also to those of us here in the Great White North otherwise known as Canada. 
A new strategy on water usage in agriculture unveiled by Britain’s Environment Agency paints a potentially grim picture for farmers.