Company forecasts fruit farm pests
Nearly a million dollars from the federal government is expected to help develop precision, wireless technology capable of predicting diseases that affect farm output.
The investment is with SemiosBio Technologies Inc., a company that provides safe and pest management solutions to growers of tree fruits, nuts and grapes.
They will provide farmers with information to better manage plant diseases and optimize the use of pesticides.
The company has already developed a sensor and pest management system for codling moths in apples.
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This project will focus specifically on fire blight in apples, and downy and powdery mildews in grapes, with field testing in locations across the country.
Safety Days for farm and rural children
BASF Canada is partnering with the Canadian Agriculture Safety Association to promote farm safety through community-based educational initiatives in 2016.
BASF is providing support during the National Progressive Ag Safety Days in more than 95 communities in nine provinces between April and July. It is the largest rural safety and health education program for children in Canada.
Farm safety statistics indicate farmers are five times more likely to be killed through occupation-related accidents than other industries. Almost half of fatalities were farmers and owner-operators and 14 percent were children.
The program has grown since 2013 from 69 safety days to 95 for this year. It is also expected participation will grow to 26,000.
New fusarium video
Alberta Agriculture and Forestry created a short video, Stop Fusarium Before It Stops You.
It outlines how to manage fusarium graminearum in an effort to raise awareness about the fungal disease.
The hazardous and infectious disease costs Alberta producers between $3 and $8.7 million annually due to reduced yields and downgrading on cereal crops.
The video depicts the fusarium spores as cartoon monsters out of control in Alberta. It briefly outlines the causes and symptoms of the pest, and discusses management practices to help stop it.
Discussions include selecting fursarium free seed, utilizing fungicidal seed treatments, crop rotations, in-crop fungicides and irrigation.
Fusiarum graminearum was added as a declared pest under Alberta’s Agricultural Pests Act in 1999.
Young Guns Contest
There are three prizes in the Young Guns Contest open to those between ages eight and 21 years of age and involved in 4 H beef, junior cattle shows, or beef production.
In an effort to dispel harmful myths about beef production, the Alberta Beef Producers are looking for the biggest myth about beef production and the truth behind it.
This could include fears around hormone and antibiotic use in beef production, to ideas about cattle contributing to global warming.
Submissions could be an essay, video, audio segment, social media campaign, press release, or another form of communication.
The three prizes available:
1st place – $1,000
2nd place – $500
3rd place – $250
