Landowners say the recovery strategy is confusing and allows anybody to ‘stick their nose in and control the land base’
The federal government’s new recovery strategy for the endangered sage grouse has done little to ease fears among ranchers in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The strategy, which was written and filed late last year, stems from a federal government emergency protection order that took effect in February 2014. The order imposed restrictions on human activity in […] Read moreNews
Alta. farm safety gets funding
Alberta farm safety education programs received a $75,000 boost Feb. 12 from Ag for Life and the Co-operators. The three-year partnership is de-signed to help expand rural and farm safety days across the province. Ag for Life is a non-profit organization with a mandate to deliver safety education. Safety programs reached more than 26,200 people […] Read more
Air pollution reduces rainfall in Central America: study
The dry weather is linked to sun-dimming pollution
OSLO, Norway (Reuters) — Air pollution tied to industrialization in the Northern Hemisphere almost certainly reduced rainfall over Central America, says a new study. It is new evidence that human activity can disrupt the climate. “We identify an unprecedented drying trend since 1850,” the scientists wrote in the journal Nature Geoscience after studying the rate […] Read moreU.S. lawmakers propose single food safety agency
The Safe Food Act is designed to create an integrated system for inspections, labelling and enforcement of imported food
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Reuters) — U.S. lawmakers have proposed a bill that would create a single food safety agency. It would bring together the oversight functions of the Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture and other agencies. Democratic senator Richard Durbin from Illinois and Democrat House of Representatives member Rosa DeLauro from Connecticut said […] Read moreNew venture listing
Regina’s Input Capital was listed on the TSX Venture 50 Feb. 11. The TSX Venture Exchange list highlights the performance of up-and-coming companies across a variety of sectors. Launched in 2012, Input Capital forms agreements with prairie growers, providing capital in return for a portion of their canola crop over the length of the contract. […] Read more
New money for PED projects
An eight-member funding group has provided $650,000 for further research in to the deadly porcine epidemic diarrhea virus. Genome Alberta, the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency, Genome Canada, Ontario Agriculture, Sask-atchewan Agriculture, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the Ontario Genomics Institute and Genome Quebec announced three new research projects Feb. 10. One project involves development […] Read more
Financing challenges delay BioRefinex plant construction
Proposed $35 million plant would process 45,000 tonnes of animal byproducts every year in Lacombe, Alta.
City council in Lacombe, Alta., has granted BioRefinex Canada an extra month to get its financing in place to buy land for a plant that will turn specified risk material into safe byproducts. The company hopes to build its proposed $35 million plant on 13 acres of city owned land in an industrial park. “The […] Read moreAustralia toughens land buying rules
Foreign purchases by one buyer cannot exceed $14.75 million without regulatory approval
SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) — Australia has tightened its foreign farmland ownership rules amid concerns that it is losing control of its own food security. The new rules slash the amount beyond which land purchases would require regulatory approval. As of March 1, foreign purchases of agricultural land worth more than $14.75 million will be subject […] Read moreFirst CWD case since 2002 no cause for panic
Alberta elk industry official says vigilant testing was bound to find the disease, known to be contracted from wild deer
The discovery of Alberta’s first case chronic wasting disease in a farmed elk in 13 years likely won’t affect the industry, says the head of the Canadian Cervid Council. “I think the industry, as a whole, is always concerned whenever there is a case regardless of where it is located, whether it is Saskatchewan or […] Read moreReport reveals $31 billion in annual food waste
Canada wastes an estimated $31 billion worth of food annually in a loss that stretches from farmgate to consumer tables. The figure, updated in mid-December 2014, is 15 percent more than estimated in 2010 by Value Chain Management International, an organization dedicated to improving business profitability and competitiveness. The boost in numbers isn’t due to […] Read more
