Karen Morrison

Alternative crops will replace genetically modified ones as the research focus shifts at Saskatoon’s Crop Development Centre over the next two years. The shift follows a review in January by Saskatchewan Agriculture’s Agriculture Development Fund. It reviewed its five-year funding to CDC and adjusted its programs. Abdul Jalil, director of Saskatchewan Agriculture’s research branch, said […] Read more

The new Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada is designed to feed a growing demand for organic farming. The centre, which received $854,700 in federal funding, will work with Canadian colleges and universities to help producers remain updated on the latest biological and farm management practices. It is based at the Nova Scotia Agriculture College in […] Read more

RAMA, Sask. — Big Sky V near Rama, Sask. had just one day to clean up beer cans, napkins and half-eaten pork burgers left over from its grand opening barbecue July 4. The human visitors were displaced the next day by its permanent residents, a truckload of piglets bound for the nursery of Big Sky […] Read more

SPRUCE GROVE, Alta. — The beer is an acquired taste, but the potatoes go down like cattle candy. The tasty tidbits are mixed with silage made from other feeds grown at Lewis Farms Ltd. for the 500 purebred Simmentals. Culled potatoes come from the Lewis’s seed potato business, which is part of the farm operated […] Read more

Internal conflict at Health Canada and a link to increased resistance to antibiotics have stalled approval of a drug meant to treat pneumonia in cattle. Bayer Animal Health first sought approval for Baytril in Canada from the bureau of veterinary drugs in 1996. It has been in use in the United States for cattle and […] Read more

Scientists are using an old remedy to help cure mastitis in dairy cattle. Agriculture Canada’s food research program in Guelph, Ont., is studying how phage therapy controls udder inflammation. Phage therapy was used extensively in humans before the introduction of penicillin. Research scientist Parviz Sabour said ingested or injected bacteriophage break into the bacterial cell […] Read more

Clean fans, efficient heaters and monitored temperatures and ventilation systems may be the answer to rising natural gas prices for prairie hog producers. Saskatchewan farmers’ gas bills rose by 25 percent this month, while Manitoba’ s increase, the third since last fall, was five percent. Alberta, which provides residents with gas rebates, has also seen […] Read more

Maple syrup candy is detained by customs agents and unshelled pecans bound for sale in Manitoba are late arriving from Mexico. It’s just another day in the business world for the Mexitoba Exchange, a 4-H company that teaches youth about the challenges of the import-export business. The international youth entrepreneurship project is new in Manitoba […] Read more

An attic viewing room at an Elstow, Sask., research barn will provide a window on the world of pig production beginning next spring. Fund-raising is under way to secure the $1 million required to build the corridors, viewing windows and interactive displays needed to create the interpretive centre at the Prairie Swine Centre’s 600-sow farrow-to-finish […] Read more

ROSTHERN, Sask. – Spring training is under way for racehorses at Tom Gardipy Jr.’s farm in north-central Saskatchewan. Cars and trucks dot the yard from the stables to the horse walker to the white-sided house. Handlers move swiftly between washing animals, cleaning stables and exercising horses. Gardipy quietly tells his helpers what jobs are yet […] Read more