Allen Warren

Wasps may be drafted as the next deadly weapon against lygus bug infestation. Hector Carcamo of Agriculture Canada’s Lethbridge Research Centre is working to identify lygus bug predators so canola and alfalfa producers can reduce their input costs by letting nature take care of the pest. “The new work involves assessing what natural enemies the […] Read more

What looks to many like a good idea on paper is really a bogus venture in economic and energy diversification, said speakers at the National Farmers Union 34th annual convention Nov. 22 in Saskatoon. Tadeusz Patzek, an engineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told NFU delegates that ethanol production would be one big […] Read more

The National Farmers Union’s latest report received warm support from rural sociologist Michael Gertler of the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives at the University of Saskatchewan. “I think everyone who’s interested in farming should read it,” he said. The report entitled The Farm Crisis, Bigger Farms and the Myths of Competition and Efficiency says […] Read more

Call it brown power. Various agencies, including the government of Canada, Alberta Research Council, Highland Feeders Ltd. and its subsidiary, Highmark Renewables, hope to begin turning cattle manure into energy by June 2004. The Integrated Manure Utilization System seeks to process the “high-solid” manure typical of most North American feedlots into fertilizer and reusable water, […] Read more

The National Farmer’s Union has released a new report that challenges the notion that the Canadian farm income crisis is the fault of “inefficiencies” of production among small Canadian farmers. Called The Farm Crisis, Big Farms, and the Myths of Competition and Efficiency, the NFU report cites a 2001 Statistics Canada study. It found that […] Read more

In this Canadian beef crisis, most cattle producers can agree to let one relatively minor American breed do all the talking. Silhouetted on “support Canadian beef” bumper stickers everywhere is the folkloric Texas Longhorn. While breeds like Red or Black Angus are far more popular, the Texas Longhorn remains the undisputed champion for cattle identification. […] Read more

Saskatchewan people should expect few new policy initiatives coming from the recently re-elected NDP government, says University of Saskatchewan professor Christine de Clercy. That’s especially true when it comes to agriculture. De Clercy said if premier Lorne Calvert wants to keep his rural and urban caucuses happy, his party’s one-vote majority leaves him little room […] Read more

Explosive danger lurks just beneath the earth’s surface on many playgrounds, pastures and fields across the Middle East, Africa, and southeast Asia. Unearthing these clandestine killers usually takes massive amounts of time, money, energy and manpower. Sometimes, it only takes a step. University of Alberta professor Michael Deyholos hopes to replace manpower with green power, […] Read more

GRANDORA, Sask. – Sheep producer Sharon Schaefer of Ituna, Sask., wanted to learn to talk and walk backwards at the same time. Cathy Bishop from Provost, Alta., just wanted to learn how to get out of the way. The women were two of the herding dog owners who gathered at Jennie Seaborn’s Grandora acreage ranch […] Read more