“This is a cover crop study,” said Lana Shaw, SERF’s research manager, as she drove a reporter around the farm’s fields, pointing to a rolling field with in-crop weather stations and soil monitors. | Ed White photo

Major U.S. research project conducted in southern Sask.

South East Research Farm conducts cover crop trials for Pepsico and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research

REDVERS, Sask. — If research is going to be ground-truthed to make sure it applies to the real world of farming, it needs to be truthed on the kind of ground farmers actually farm. That was probably one of the keys to the South East Research Farm (SERF) landing a major research contract from food […] Read more

Lana Shaw, research manager at the South East Research Farm, must juggle a multitude of contrasting agronomic requirements as she oversees hundreds of trials commissioned by dozens of clients.  |  Ed White photo

Research centre in southern Sask. can do it all

A land base that mimics farming reality allows the South East Research Farm to conduct trials in a variety of conditions

REDVERS, Sask.— The South East Research Farm didn’t locate itself on the most easily farmable land. There are potholes and sloughs and saline patches. The land is undulating and rolling, unlike the stereotypical image of pancake-flat Saskatchewan farmland. Related story: Major U.S. research project conducted in southern Sask. That’s given it a unique set of […] Read more

Because of the regulatory roadblocks, some Canadian companies with new crop protection products and novel crop genetics are going to market in the U.S, but not in Canada. | File photo

Health Canada pushes back on regulatory critics

The department has been criticized for an unpredictable process, but it argues that it ‘makes evidence-based decisions’

Politicians, agriculture investors, ag tech companies, industry consultants and representatives of the crop science industry say Canada’s regulatory system has a bad reputation. They claim that politics and public opinion are influencing Health Canada decisions around pesticides and new technologies like gene-edited crops. Related stories on this issue: Death by consultation Canadian ag tech firms […] Read more


Because of the regulatory roadblocks, some Canadian companies with new crop protection products and novel crop genetics are going to market in the U.S, but not in Canada. | File photo

Health Canada pushes back

Politicians, investors, ag tech companies, industry consultants and representatives of the crop science industry say Canada’s regulatory system has a bad reputation. They claim politics and public opinion are influencing Health Canada decisions around pesticides and new technologies such as gene edited crops, and that the regulatory process has become unpredictable and unclear. Related stories […] Read more