Year of the garden
The Canadian Garden Council has proclaimed 2022 as Canada’s Year of the Garden.
The celebration honours the country’s garden heritage and culture, including the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association.
Interest in gardening blossomed during the past two years of the pandemic and contributed to maintaining health of Canadians and the environment.
More information is available at yearofthegarden.ca/.
Online auction fundraiser open
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The British Columbia Agri-Food Industry Gala Online Auction is open for online bidding until April 3.
With more than 100 items up for bid, proceeds from the silent auction will be donated to the B.C. Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation.
The non-profit will use the money for new agriculture and food programs and resources to students in the province.
Bids can be made at can.givergy.com/bcaggala.
Nursery assistance
The federal government is investing about $1.5 million for two projects with the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association to help capture new opportunities for market growth and boost exports.
Up to $1.36 million will support promotional initiatives, including marketing activities for Year of the Garden, as well as trade missions, technical training, attendance at trade shows, market research and trade advocacy.
An additional $111,309 in funding will help the national not-for-profit association modernize the Clean Plants program and enable Canadian growers to assure domestic and international customers that the plants they sell are free of pests and diseases.
College introduces ag extension programs
Assiniboine School of Agriculture and Environment has added two new ag extension programs: pesticide certification and drone flight school.
The drone flight school program is 40 hours of online training and runs from March 15 to May 31. It will prepare students for their flight operations certificate.
The pesticide certification program prepares students for this certification exam. Those who apply pesticide professionally in Manitoba must be certified and licensed in the province.
More information is at assiniboine.net/agextension.
Ducks Unlimited receives funding
Ducks Unlimited Manitoba was awarded $750,000 from Manitoba’s Conservation Trust to improve wildlife, water and soil conservation.
It will receive another $210,000 through a partnership led by Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association.
Much of the funding will go to landowners to help restore nearly 4,400 acres of native grasslands within Manitoba’s waterfowl nesting areas.
DUC also provides hay and grazing opportunities to producers.
DUC Manitoba also plans to leverage the $960,000 from the Trust into more than $2.8 million through funding partnerships in Canada and the United States, including the North American Wetlands Conservation Act.
DUC is Manitoba’s oldest and most-recognized conservation group and has protected 736,796 acres in the province since launching in 1938.
More information is at ag.ducks.ca/myprograms/manitoba/.
