Deals in progress | Western Canadian group returns from latest trip
Officials leading a series of trade missions to Southeast Asia say the trips are slowly but surely securing new investment and markets that will benefit Western Canada. Delegates from provincial food processing associations in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia returned to Canada at the end of March from a two-week trade mission. They met […] Read moreTag Archives Ag Finance
Food processors explore emerging Asian markets
Cyber classes keep rural schools alive
SASKATOON — The high school in Val Marie, Sask., was unable to graduate students three years ago because it lost its English teacher. Similar situations in the sparsely populated southwestern corner of the province led the regional school division to develop a distance education network to ensure schools wouldn’t close, students could stay close to […] Read more
Study expected to exceed $600,000
The Senate agriculture committee is in the midst of an extensive investigation of agricultural research and adaptation, and taxpayers will be paying a significant bill for the resulting report. In a report tabled in the Senate April 3, committee chair Percy Mockler from New Brunswick indicated that the estimated total cost of the committee hearings […] Read more
Anaerobic digestion viewed as opportunity for agriculture
Financial incentives lacking Methane sales to energy grid necessary to make manure management system profitable for farmers
A lack of financial incentives has dampened Canadian interest in a farm-scale bio-digester designed by a Quebec company and sold around the world, says a product promoter. Elise Villeneuve, chief operating officer for Bio-Terre Inc., told the Senate agriculture committee that the system successfully removes pathogens and odour from farm manure, produces a fertilizer that […] Read moreRelationship warms between hog farmers, government
The poisonous relations between Manitoba pig farmers and the provincial government are becoming less toxic, according to the chair of the Manitoba Pork Council. And while the government is not offering to alleviate any of the legislative and regulatory restrictions it has imposed in recent years, it has been signalling that it is willing to […] Read more
Manitoba welfare model seen as more objective
Manitoba is on its own when it comes to regulating animal welfare, says the province’s chief veterinary officer. Unlike most other jurisdictions in Canada, where the provincial SPCA handles welfare investigations and law enforcement, the Manitoba government takes a more direct approach. “We deliver animal welfare en-forcement directly through the office of the chief veterinary […] Read more
Tim Hortons defends animal welfare policy on sow gestation crates
Despite pressure from animal welfare organizations to act on gestation stalls, Tim Hortons is taking a balanced and realistic approach to the issue, says a company spokesperson. In late February, the Humane Society of the United States called on Tim Hortons to modernize its supply chain and begin buying pork from farms that don’t use […] Read more
Researchers discover plant’s nourishing gene
Genes, seed development | Findings have significant implications for global agriculture and food security
LINDELL BEACH, B.C. — A gene has been identified for the first time that regulates the optimum amount of nutrients that flow from “mother” to “offspring” in corn plants. The research was led by scientists at the University of Warwick in collaboration with the University of Oxford and the agricultural biotech research company Biogemma, all […] Read moreScientist recognized for medical research
Researcher praised for vaccine development
Lorne Babiuk hopes to see polio and measles eradicated in his lifetime. The University of Alberta scientist is a leading researcher in infectious diseases and vaccine development. He credits modern medicine with eradicating small pox that once killed millions. He hopes to see similar successes with other common diseases plaguing humans and animals. In recognition […] Read moreCanola thieves strike near Bon Accord, Alta.
It’s enough to make any farmer sick. At the beginning of March, Kevin Kowalski of Bon Accord, Alta., discovered $100,000 worth of canola stolen from his bins. He’d checked the bins about a month earlier and they seemed fine, but when his hired man went to load the canola, the bin doors were wide open […] Read more
