Articles by Sam

Food safety is a growing demand all over the world. All food, and ingredients sold at local supermarkets or exported to EU countries, Canada and US must be traceable, and supply chain companies must be able to rapidly withdraw a batch of products from the market should the need arise.

True, we live in an ever-changing world of mass food production and, in the West at least, billion dollar retailers. Public concerns about food safety and worries about the apparent lack of transparency in the production and processing of food, mean that consumer demands have never been more stringent, according to IDTechEx, a global traceability firm.

This requires local enterprises, individuals and firms in fresh produce supply chain (including transporters, cold room/storage facilities) to maintain more detailed records and exercise greater controls, in other words called traceability in modern trade parlance.

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I have a confession: I listen to lots of music, not out of enjoyment, but for curiosity. Yet, I know very little about how music is made. My only serious involvement with music was when, years ago, I tried to invoke my artistic self and enrolled in a church singing group, but my vocals – let me say my hoarse throat – failed me, and that was it.

Let’s face it, music is definitely about creativity and innovation. The sounds, the voice arrangements, and all. And I have always wondered how the prodigies and those flashy celebs make their music.

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Picture this: you are a  hard working onion and turnips farmer in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and you feel that you should be selling your farm produce in the most expedient manner.

However, commodity traders and markets are not giving you the best price, and eventual consumers pay through the roof what you sold so cheaply that you feel cheated. What do you do? Forming a cooperative as part of producer protection is one thing you can do but what else? Here’s how poor farmers in Africa have employed ingenuity and innovation. Read the rest of this entry »