Forecast: Seasonable with a chance of snow

Forecast issued Nov. 6, 2020, covering the period from Nov. 11 to 18, 2020

Once again, last week’s forecast did a pretty good job with the major weather features. We saw a nice warmup last week with a few locations breaking record highs last Tuesday and Wednesday. Then the weather models predicted a storm system over the weekend, and as I write this on Friday, it looks like that

Asian giant hornets have noticeably large orange heads and black eyes; worker hornets are about 3.5 cm in length; queens can be up to four to five cm in length, with a wingspan of four to seven cm. (B.C. Ministry of Agriculture)

Two more ‘murder hornets’ turn up on B.C. mainland

One nest found last month in neighbouring U.S. town

Beekeepers in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland are asked to keep an eye out for so-called “murder hornets” after two were found in the region within a week. A single Asian giant hornet was found Saturday at Aldergrove, near the intersection of Fraser Highway and Highway 13 — about five km from where


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

AgriStability in Bibeau’s sights as ministers’ meeting booked

Removing reference margin limit a palatable option

Federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) ministers of agriculture are scheduled to meet Nov. 20 and 27 to discuss improving business risk management (BRM) programs. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie Claude Bibeau said she is confident counterparts from Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia will be willing to contribute their share to make significant improvements to AgriStability, the

Rep. Collin Peterson, chairman of the House agriculture committee, speaks to reporters at the Reuters Financial Regulation Summit in Washington on April 27, 2009. (File photo: Reuters/Mike Theiler)

U.S. House ag leader loses election, unsettling Midwest farm sector

Chicago | Reuters — Democratic U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, chair for the House of Representatives’ agriculture committee, failed to win re-election in Minnesota on Tuesday, a loss some agriculture leaders said could hurt the U.S. Midwest grain belt. Though Democrats retained control of the House and therefore will again chair the committee, Peterson’s exit could


(Valio84sl/iStock/Getty Images)

Tech firm aims to boost regenerative ag through A.I., machine learning

Terramera proposes to cut emissions, sequester carbon through efficiencies

A Vancouver ag tech firm is pitching a proposal to both public- and private-sector investors that would use Microsoft technology to help the ag sector “pull carbon from the air.” Terramera on Monday put forward a $730 million proposal for an initiative it calls the Global Centre for Regenerative Agriculture, which would oversee efforts to

Anita Stewart. (FoodDayCanada.ca)

Canadian food laureate Anita Stewart, 73

Guelph flags to be lowered for Food Day Canada founder

Flags at the University of Guelph are to be flown at half-mast Tuesday in honour of Canadian food advocate Anita Stewart, who died Thursday in hospital in Hamilton. Stewart, 73, was the first person in the world to be conferred with the title of “food laureate,” as she was named by the University of Guelph


(LIVINUS/iStock/Getty Images)

Foreign worker isolation support extended

Federal program extended alongside federal restrictions

The federal program helping employers of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) cover the costs of isolating new workers for two weeks on their arrival in Canada has been extended through November. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced Monday that the Mandatory Isolation Support for Temporary Foreign Workers Program will now run to Nov. 30, as the government

Average sea surface temperature anomalies over the equatorial Pacific Ocean for the week centred on Oct. 28, 2020 compared to 1981-2010 base period. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

WMO officially calls a La Nina winter

MarketsFarm — A La Nina weather event has officially developed in the Pacific Ocean and is expected to continue into 2021, affecting temperatures, precipitation and storm patterns around the world, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The global declaration of the La Nina event by the United Nations’ agency will be used by governments


Mike and son Sky harvesting finished castings from a ridge row of manure.

‘Accidental business people’ find niche in worm-made fertilizer

Faces of Ag: A veteran ‘worm farmer’ and his childhood friend set out to offer environmentally friendly fertilizer — years later, business is booming in unexpected ways

It began 35 years ago with a quarter-pound of worms sent in the mail from Kentucky. Mike Jacques bought them to help develop soil for his greenhouse and the Northern Sun Farm Co-op, a small, off-grid community near Sarto in southeastern Manitoba. The soil in the area was sandy and needed some organic input. Jacques

Before the pandemic hit, the food industry’s labour shortages were barely on the public’s radar.

Editorial: Our food security is vulnerable

A common theme that emerges when talking to food-industry observers about the ongoing pandemic is that while Canada’s agriculture and food systems are highly efficient and productive, they lack resilience. Six months into a pandemic that shows no signs of being over any time soon, cracks that were virtually invisible before are now becoming impossible