Safety in school; Dutch elm disease report; CropLife leaders; Rural development grants; Horse care on-line
Safety in school
The Alberta Farm Safety Centre is expanding its school-based Safety Smarts program.
The program, which offers hands-on safety lessons to students from Kindergarten to Grade 6, will now be offered throughout the province at no cost to schools.
Funding for the program is provided through a $360,000 grant from Alberta Agriculture. Four new Safety Smarts instructors have been hired.
The centre, a non-profit society based in Raymond, Alta., will offer the program to approximately 50,000 students in 500 rural schools.
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This expansion will make Alberta the first province to offer province-wide rural safety training for children.
The program complements Alberta Agriculture’s Safety Up farm safety campaign, which is aimed at young farmers aged 17 to 24.
Dutch elm disease report
Dutch elm disease was not found in any new Saskatchewan communities this year, but the disease continues to spread in areas where it is established, according to Saskatchewan Dutch Elm Disease program administrators.
Saskatchewan communities confirming the presence of infected elms include Regina (five cases), Lumsden (nine), Regina Beach (13), Fort Qu’Appelle (33), Katepwa (39), Estevan (seven), Carnduff (two), Indian Head (nine), Echo Valley Provincial Park (86), Radville (five), Odessa (one), Wolseley (two), Francis (one), Grenfell (two) and Carlyle (three).
Moose Jaw found no infected trees this year, despite reporting infections in previous years.
Saskatoon, Swift Current, Prince Albert, North Battleford and Yorkton remain disease-free.
For more information, call Saskatchewan Environment at 800-727-5356.
CropLife leaders
CropLife Canada has a new board and executive committee.
The 2008-09 executive committee consists of chair Richard Rose of Nufarm Agriculture Inc., past-chair Jay Bradshaw of Syngenta Crop Protection Canada Inc., first vice-chair Hartmut van Lengerich of Bayer CropScience Canada, second vice-chair Jim Wispinski of Dow Agrosciences Canada Inc., third vice-chair Lisa Safarian of Monsanto Canada Inc., treasurer Doug Wonnacott of Viterra, secretary Fran Burr of Cargill and member-at-large Ian Grant of Pioneer Hi-Bred.
All members of the executive also sit on CropLife Canada’s board.
Other board members include Craig Bartlett of N.M. Bartlett Inc., Brian Denys of BASF Canada, Ray Chyc of Engage Agro Corp., Bob Falconi of Spectrum Brands Inc., Keith Lockhart of Chemtura, Hugh MacGillivray of Arysta Corporation LifeScience North America, Barry Maynard of Scotts Canada, André Mercure of La Coop fédérée Limited, Murray Pickel of United AgriProducts, Rick Pierson of Univar Canada Ltd., Al Raine of Richardson International and Priscila Vansetti of E.I. du Pont Limited Canada Company.
Rural development grants
The Alberta government has allocated $20 million over the next three years to help address economic, environmental and social challenges in rural communities.
The three year, $15 million Rural Community Adaptation Grant Program is designed to support community-based projects that result in more diverse economic opportunities.
Grant amounts range from $10,000 to $500,000 per project.
Another $4.9 million in grant funding will go to 12 rural-based Regional Economic Development Alliances in Alberta to support community and regionally led transition projects.
Communities interested in receiving money through the grant program can phone Alberta Agriculture at 780-427-2409, e-mail at rcap@gov.ab.ca or visit www.rural.alberta.ca.
Horse care on-line
Two on-line initiatives from the University of Guelph in Ontario will help horse owners better determine the risk of their animals catching an infectious disease and gather information about infection control.
One is a calculator that allows horse owners to enter their management practices and calculate their animals’ risk levels.
Another is a blog by Ontario Veterinary College researchers that provides information about various equine diseases and offers practical tips on disease prevention and control.
The calculator is available through the Equine Guelph website at www.equineguelph.ca/.
The blog, known as Equidblog, can be viewed at www.equidblog.com/.
