Toban Dyck
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A Serendipitous Reunion, Fruitful Visit: Discovering Research in Nova Scotia’s Valley
We arrived in Wolfville, N.S., as restaurants were about to close. We were hungy. Walking into the first pub still serving food, we noticed a sign that read, “Caleb Vallelly. Live in the Window. Every Thursday 7-10.” If the sign hadn’t included his picture, I might not have believed it. “Caleb Vallelly!” I exclaimed. Sitting…
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Forest for the Trees: Thought Leadership at BFG
Linking a long-dead Austrian philosopher to the agriculture industry was a thought I had the other day. Instead of letting it go, I wrote it out to see if the connection I was making had any legs. My editor/wife claimed it did. The piece on Wittgenstein, along with a much more substantial piece written by…
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Wittgenstein and the Language of Agriculture
I got into golf in my late 30s. In my university days, golfers and golf courses represented exclusivity and excess. While I’m still cognizant of these traits, I am certainly not in a position to throw stones and many golfers and golf courses have since proven me wrong. Four years ago, I took a few…
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How Burr Forest Got its Name
Burr Forest is a loose translation of the Lower German word Burlwalde. My family’s farm was settled in the late 1800s. It is nestled along the edge of what I grew up calling the Burwalde Woods. This, I would later learn, is a redundancy. A scholar and family friend casually mentioned to me one day…
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Canola – Aerial Crop Protection
This pilot is protecting a healthy canola field that has seen a tremendous amount of rain and is currently thriving under much-needed dry and hot conditions. We are grateful to the brave pilots who undertake this risky, needed, and spectator-friendly task to ensure our crops are healthy and abundant. We are similarly grateful for the…
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Prairie Storm
On June 12, 2024 a storm manifesting in a variety of ways – from devastating to spectacular – blew over parts of central Canada and the U.S. The drone shots were taken directly above my farmyard in southern Manitoba a few minutes before the system arrived. It brought hail, strong, gale-force winds, and rain. The…
Featured Case Studies
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Burr Forest Group’s Effective Extension Training Program
Read this case study: Burr Forest Group’s Effective Extension Training ProgramIntroduction In 2025, after years of development and many conversations, Burr Forest Group (BFG) launched its Effective Extension training program. This unique and tailored program took shape from the many consultations we had with agriculture commodity associations and other farm groups from across Western Canada. It was built to address the widening and increasingly felt…
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Making Research Accessible: Cluster Knowledge Translation & Transfer
Read this case study: Making Research Accessible: Cluster Knowledge Translation & TransferIntroduction In 2023, the Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada (FVGC) received federal funding for the fourth Canadian AgriScience Cluster for Horticulture from 2023 to 2028. As part of the Cluster initiative, FVGC was responsible for conducting Knowledge Translation and Transfer (known in the industry as KTT) activities over the five-year period to keep stakeholders,…
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Summarizing Technical Presentations: Research Conference Report
Read this case study: Summarizing Technical Presentations: Research Conference ReportCase Study CLIENT Soy Canada Introduction Soy Canada was pleased to welcome back the National Soy Research Conference in January 2024. The conference drew together researchers from across the Canadian soybean industry to share updates and results of their research. Burr Forest Group (BFG) was entrusted with the critical task of covering this information-heavy and…
