Shelley Barkley doesn’t just walk into a wheat field, take soil samples and hope to find wheat midge cocoons. “You have to start thinking like a bug,” said Barkley, an insect research technologist with Alberta Agriculture who is conducting the 2012 wheat midge survey. Instead, she heads to the low spots where wheat midge like […] Read more
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Think like a bug: insect tracker
More visitors to biosphere reserves
A partnership between four biosphere reserves from Canada and Germany has resulted in an initiative to promote tourism to the sites. Saskatchewan’s Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve northwest of Saskatoon near Hafford is among the sites included in a new brochure dubbed Partners in the World Network. The area includes a salt-water lake and a bird […] Read more
Rat control team proclaims victory in Alberta landfill
Thirst was their undoing. A rat infestation in the dry and dusty regional landfill near Medicine Hat earlier this year has been controlled through concerted — and moist — baiting efforts. “The baiting was what did it, really,” said Alberta rat and pest specialist Phil Merrill. “We had a water bait, and in Medicine Hat […] Read more
Obama win will seal death of WTO deal, says analyst
TORONTO — A win for U.S. president Barack Obama in the Nov. 6 presidential election would kill any chance of a World Trade Organization deal for half a decade, says a respected American analyst. Thomas Prusa, a prominent economics professor at New Jersey’s Rutgers University, told a trade conference Sept. 29 that the Democratic administration […] Read more
Winter canola booms on southern U.S. Plains
Winter canola is becoming more popular with farmers on the southern U.S. Plains. Gene Neuens, canola representative for the Producer Co-operative Oil Mill in Oklahoma, said farmers will likely plant more than 300,000 acres of winter canola on the southern Great Plains this fall, compared to 170,000 acres last year. “The main reason we brought […] Read more
Consumer education needed: survey
Are free-run eggs the same as free-range eggs? Apparently, most Canadians think free-run chickens peck and wander around outside, according to a consumer survey conducted by Farmers Feed Cities, an Ontario agricultural awareness organization. The online survey, conducted in September, found that 81 percent of Canadians who buy free-run eggs believe the hens are raised […] Read more
Senate set to approve new safety regs
The Senate is expected to approve new food safety legislation next week and federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz said it is needed to make food companies play by the rules. The legislation, Bill S-11, was approved by the Senate agriculture committee Oct. 4 and is expected to receive final Senate approval before being sent to […] Read more
Canada Beef selects new directors
Chuck MacLean of Bow Island, Alta., is the new chair of Canada Beef Inc. He was selected during the agency’s annual meeting in Calgary. Working in partnership with his sons, he operates Porter and Ma-Lean Livestock Management near Medicine Hat and South Island Farms, a feedlot and farm, near Bow Island. He is a past […] Read more
CCA fears food bill will affect livestock producers
Exemption sought | The cattle industry is concerned about government involvement in farm production and management
Martin Unrau went to the Senate agriculture committee recently to support proposed new food safety legislation but with a warning about potential problems for producers. The president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association called for primary producers to be exempt from the legislation but quickly found himself locking horns with a fellow Manitoban, Conservative senator Don […] Read moreLawsuit launched against XL
An Edmonton man has filed a class action lawsuit against XL Foods after he became ill from eating a steak purchased in Edmonton that came from XL’s Lakeside meat processing plant. Matthew Harrison said he wants XL to be held responsible for the meat contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7 that affected him and has been […] Read more
