FCC opens office
The Farm Credit Corporation has opened a new field office in Swan River, Man.
It now has 14 offices in Manitoba, and Swan River is the fourth new office opened in the province this year. Other new offices were opened in Steinbach, Morris and Stonewall.
Pesticide use down
A recent study shows Ontario farmers have reduced their pesticide use by 30 percent over the past 10 years.
The study was done by the Ontario agriculture department, and suggested the reduction was due to grower education and target-specific pest control products.
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Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
Protection of farmland
The American Farmland Trust wants to raise $38 million to protect American farmland.
AFT is a national organization promoting farm techniques that conserve soil and protect farmland from non-agricultural development. The money would be used for education programs, policy-making and protecting threatened farmland.
In the U.S., the AFT estimates two billion tonnes of topsoil are lost each year, and three acres of farmland per minute are developed for non-farm purposes.
Foreign aid
Two Ethiopian food security projects are getting funds from the Canadian International Development Agency.
The projects are designed to help Ethiopians gain long-term food security and help eliminate famine.
Over the next three years, CIDA is contributing $54 million in food aid to Ethiopia. Local farmers produce a large portion of the country’s food needs, and the aid package will help make up for crop shortfall. CIDA is also contributing $500,000 to an Ethiopian crop seed development project.
Unitarian Service Committee of Canada is a co-developer of the Seeds of Survival project. Researchers in that project are supplying Ethiopian farmers with indigenous seeds that are drought and disease resistant.
