Soybeans can be found in a wide variety of food, but they are also used to make candles. One of the companies that does is Soy Harvest of Winnipeg, which started in a kitchen nine years ago and has since expanded to supply stores in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and northwestern Ontario. Soy candles are made from […] Read more
Stories by Rebeca Kuropatwa
Farmers advised to conduct on-farm trials
Seeds, chemicals and farm equipment are all tested by manufacturers and other researchers to ensure they perform well on the farm, but how compatible are those results with individual operations? On-farm crop testing may be farmers’ best bet. Kwesi Ampong-Nyarko, a research scientist with Alberta Agriculture, says many farmers are drawn to experimentation. “They’re a […] Read more
B.C. posts record icewine harvest
British Columbia’s wine industry will likely harvest its largest ever crop of icewine this year. Twenty-nine wineries have registered crops for icewine production, and more than 1,000 tons of frozen grapes will be harvested from Okanagan vineyards. “In B.C., icewine is an important sector, though not necessarily as much as, say, other regions, like Ontario,” […] Read more
Can no-kill predator strategies work?
Workshops planned | Livestock protection group hopes new strategies will reduce losses
Producers have many options when trying to prevent predator attacks. Some of them even involve the precept of live and let live. Janine Stewart, a human wildlife conflict biologist in Swan River, Man., has consulted over the last few years with producers who have several generations of coyotes living alongside their farms that have never […] Read moreTake steps to keep fusarium under control
Harvest management is farmers’ last chance to mitigate problems with fusarium head blight, says a re-search plant pathologist with Alberta Agriculture. Michael Harding said diseases are at their peak just before harvest, which makes now the best time to scout fields and determine problem areas so that they can be harvested, trucked and stored separately […] Read more
Did heavy rainwash away nitrogen?
Severe storms | Runoff from saturated soil carries away inputs resulting in deficiencies
Intense rain caused a lot of havoc in Western Canada this spring and not just from the floods that devastated southern Alberta. Many farms across the Prairies have also watched some of their inputs flush away. “Most (of the western) precipitation we’ve been receiving this year has been from thunderstorm activity and tends to be […] Read morePlasma may reduce DON risk
Hog health | Study shows spray dried animal plasma is beneficial in feed
Researchers have discovered that feeding spray dried animal plasma to nursery pigs can mitigate the harmful effects caused by eating grain infected with fusarium. Plasma is a component of whole blood and can be purified for use as a feed ingredient. It is high in protein and is composed mainly of albumin and globulin proteins. […] Read moreIrrigation management systems give heads up on soil needs
Ted Harms and his team have been working with farmers for 13 years as they evaluate soil water sensors. Harms, a provincial irrigation specialist in Alberta, said soil water sensors that are suitable for adoption by irrigators must be “fairly inexpensive (under $1,000), easy to use and interpret.” He began his three-year project in 2000 […] Read more
Canada’s oldest 4-H club thriving
A small village in Manitoba’s Pembina Valley may have love to thank for being Canada’s oldest 4-H club. History says that E. Ward Jones, an employee with the provincial agriculture department, used his influence to start the program in Roland as a to way help a local school teacher, Adelaide Graham. Graham was going to […] Read more
Getting into greenhouses requires deft thinking
The greenhouse industry has expanded in recent years thanks to technological advances and the development of efficiencies in controlled environment management. However, the competition is fierce. Brian Hunt, a business development greenhouse specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, provides information on greenhouse production for the local market. He asks his clients about their goals and why they […] Read more
