Fossil fuel companies have control in Canada Re: Woke Culture and Agriculture column by Kevin Hursh on page 11 of the Feb. 2 issue. Hursh appears enamoured with the American extreme right-wing slang, “woke culture,” exemplified particularly by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Presumably, it is a reference to progressive thinking concerning climate breakdown. Hursh trots […] Read more
Tag Archives Tobacco
Letters to the editor – February 16, 2023
U.S. carbon farming takes root — but do the economics add up?
UPPER MARLBORO, Maryland (Thomson Reuters Foundation) — The owner of Deep Roots Farm in rural Maryland and her workers finished the fall harvest last month, but some of their most vital plantings are still in the ground – and growing fast. Four species of cover crops – plants such as winter rye and hairy vetch, […] Read more
Ag Notes
CAPI receives sustainability funding The Canadian Agri-Food Foundation is a recipient of RBC Foundation funding through RBC Tech for Nature. Partial funding will support CAPI’s environmental sustainability initiative, Spearheading Sustainable Solutions, over the next two years. It aims to advance policy solutions that support the sector’s ongoing improvements to its sustainability. The Spearheading Sustainable Solutions […] Read more
Researchers unlock oats’ resistance to damaging weed
The root-rot fungal pathogen take-all is deadly to cereal crops and grasses, except oats; scientists say they now know why
Take-all is a root-rot fungal pathogen deadly to cereal crops and grasses. It can cause huge yield losses to wheat and other cereal crops — except oats. Oat protection comes from avenacins, which are antimicrobial compounds found in the plants’ roots and they offer protection against soil-borne diseases like take-all. In contrast, wheat and other […] Read moreAnnual clash over rhubarb masked affectionate relationship
I can’t recall how Bunyan and Poka got their nicknames, but they were neighbours in the small village about two kilometres from our farm. Although Bunyan didn’t own a blue ox, his one source of pride was a team of horses called Queenie and King. Whenever they emerged from the little thatched barn in which […] Read more
Learning the role of plants’ molecular ‘gatekeepers’
Everything a plant needs to grow must pass through its cell membranes. To do that, it must pass through a sieve of microscopic pores called aquaporins. Now, researchers at the Australian National University have uncovered new information on how this network of “gatekeepers” works. The knowledge could be key to developing food crops with improved […] Read more
An injection system for plants using bio-silk
That breakfast glass of orange juice may not be around in the future if an insect called the Asian citrus psyllid, which is host to a destructive bacterium, continues its invasion of Florida’s orange trees. The bacterium infects the phloem, the tissue in plants that transports compounds like sugar glucose to where they are needed. […] Read more
American producers experiment with hemp
HAYSVILLE, Kansas (Reuters) — A growing number of farmers in the United States, battered by low grain prices and the threat of a prolonged trade war with China, are seeking salvation in a plant that until recently was illegal: hemp. A cousin of cannabis plants that produce marijuana, hemp is used in products ranging from […] Read more
Immigration program offered for CDN ag
The federal government has announced a three year Agri-Food Immigration pilot to open 2,750 immigration spots per year for agriculture workers. The goal is to fill hundreds of job vacancies in the meat processing, mushroom and other agriculture sectors, Ahmed Hussen, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship, said July 11. “One of the ways […] Read more
