Singh is the first instructor at Assiniboine to receive a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) — $25,000 from the NSERC Engage program.

Using “biological control agents” can reduce and even eliminate the need for spraying chemical pesticides on the plants, she said.

“Resistance is developed so fast in this pest world. Then you have to go to an even stronger pesticide. This is a pesticide treadmill, and once you are on it, you can never get off it. You are just paving the way for having stronger, more resistant pests,” Singh said.

“These biologicals are safe and economical and provide a long-term solution. They’re very good for the customers who don’t want pesticides on their plants. They’re good for the environment and they work really well.”

The bugs that are used to control the pests are either predators (eat the pests) or parasitoids (lay their eggs in the pests, killing them in the process).

“Eventually, when there are no more pests, the good bugs just die as part of their natural cycle,” said Singh.

The practice of using biological control agents is already widespread in greenhouses used to grow vegetables, but many flower and shrub nurseries still use chemicals to kill pests as the cheapest way to protect plants from damage.

One of the requirements of the NSERC Engage grant is recruiting an industry partner who will benefit from the research.

Singh contacted Shelmerdine Garden Centre in Headingley, just west of Winnipeg, after hearing from a source in the industry that it was starting to use biological control agents in its greenhouses.

“They were very keen on getting this started, but they hadn’t been as successful as they had hoped,” Singh said.

“We are developing a customized integrated pest management program for them, using biological control agents. They told me they get almost 20 per cent economic loss because of the pests in their nursery. If we can somehow reduce plant damage using biocontrol agents, it’s going to reduce their economic loss and increase their sales.”

Even though it was not required to, Shelmerdine committed $1,000 to the project. More importantly, it made in-kind contributions of plants and staff time. Singh has visited the garden centre many times, training staff to run the program, while helping the marketing staff sell it to pesticide-wary consumers.

Shelmerdine vice-president Chad Labbe said his team has “really enjoyed working with Singh and her students for this project. We have learned a tremendous amount during this process and look forward to learning more.”

If the program at Shelmerdine is successful, Singh will make presentations to the Manitoba Landscape and Nursery Association, hoping to spread the practice throughout the industry.

The project is a great opportunity for students to “learn by doing,” Assiniboine’s motto.

One student, Tiffany Nykolyshyn, works on the project as a research intern, funded by the NSERC grant. Two other students work on the project as part of their course practicum. Singh has also taken the whole class from both her Sustainable Food Systems program and her Horticultural Production program twice to Shelmerdine to help identify and monitor the pests.

“The students will help us make decisions about implementing this program. They will be able to see the live implementation of this program, and will learn from this real-world situation.”

Singh first piloted her program by pitting good bugs against bad ones inside the sustainable greenhouse at the college’s North Hill campus in Brandon, with students helping to initiate the program.

That part of her research was funded by Growing Forward 2, a federal-provincial program that has been renamed the Canadian Agricultural Partnership.

Singh began rearing her own beneficial insects inside the college’s sustainable greenhouse, which provides the perfect environment for her research, she said.

Her future projects may include study of “biofertilizer” — using the waste products from organic materials to enhance plant health.

The post It’s a bug-eat-bug world, says Assiniboine faculty member appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Lord Abbey and Sajjad Rao have strong credentials that will open the doors to applied research in horticultural production.

ACC’s current research project is funded by the Canada-Manitoba Growing Forward Strategic Innovation Fund Advancing Agri- Innovation Program. The focus of the research will be primarily on Manitoba fruit and vegetables.

“These instructors bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the horticultural production program and to ACC,” says Derrick Turner, dean of the School of Business, Agriculture and Environment. “As researchers, Lord and Sajjad will share their extensive experience and comprehensive education in the agricultural field with our students and with others in the sector.”

Horticultural production, a one-year certificate program, focuses on the production of fruits, vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants using a practical, hands-on approach. The program starts this September at ACC’s North Hill Campus. Students in the horticultural production program will work alongside culinary arts and hotel and restaurant management students, providing those at the Manitoba Institute of Culinary Arts with a true “field-to-fork” learning experience.

The post Instructors Hired For New Horticultural Program appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Barber has spent almost 30 years studying sea ice in the Arctic region. For the first 10 years he thought that changes he was observing in the ice, and the effects they had on the Arctic ecosystem, were as a result of natural variability. He was not convinced that global warming was responsible.

Over the next 10 years, he began to notice a pattern emerge in his own data and that of many other scientists. He began to see evidence that not only was global warming real, it was occurring at an alarmingly rapid pace. It was enough to convince him that global warming is happening and that it is a serious problem.

“Over the last five years of my career I have become extremely concerned about what I see and the rate of change that we are seeing in the Arctic,” says Barber. “I have become more vocal about telling the public what we see in the Arctic, and how the results are a precursor to what we are going to see in the more temperate and tropical parts of the planet in the decades to come.”

It is a message he will bring to Brandon on March 18 as the keynote speaker for Assiniboine Community College’s (ACC) Prairie Innovation Forum.

Barber, Canada’s Research Chair in Arctic System Science at the University of Manitoba, is a leading authority on how global warming in the Arctic will affect climate change on our planet.

He has led a number of research projects as part of the 2007-08 International Polar Year, a research effort that involved 60 countries and a multidisciplinary team of international scientists that have studied ice, atmosphere and ocean systems in both hemispheres.

Barber will be talking about his work in the Arctic and the links between environmental change, health and the economy and unveiling some of the latest results of the ongoing research programs.

“We are seeing the first strongest signs of a warming planet in both poles,” he says. “I will focus on the evidence that we are finding in the Arctic, about what is happening, how quickly it is happening, why it is happening and what we think the near future looks like for the Arctic.”

Arctic sea ice is melting at a rate of around 70,000 square kilometres per year, which is an area equivalent to the size of Lake Superior. It is predicted that the Arctic will be ice free throughout the summer season somewhere between 2030 and 2050, something that has not occurred in over a million years.

Although the planet has gone through warming and cooling trends in the past, says Barber, it is the scale and the speed of the current warming trend that is alarming.

“I think the Arctic is a good indicator for what’s happening to the globe as a general evolution of global warming, and it gives us an early warning sign,” he says. “The bad news part of that message is that the rate of change is accelerating in the Arctic and it has been accelerating over the last 10 years.”

Barber will also give a scientist’s perspective on the technologies that need to be developed as an alternative to our current fossil fuel-driven economy.

ACC is at the foref ront of this new, emerging bioeconomy. It intends to establish the Prairie Innovation Centre at its new home at the 1st Street North Campus. The centre will be a dedicated LEED-certified facility for research and training to support technology and innovations in the areas of renewable energy and other bioproducts.

As it moves forward with the project, ACC will present the second annual Prairie Innovation Forum on March 18 and 19 at the Canad Inns and Keystone Centre in Brandon. The theme for this years’ event, which is again sponsored by the RBC Foundation, is “Reducing Our Footprint” and it will explore innovative practices for businesses and communities to respond to the issues around climate change.

For more information about the Prairie Innovation Forum visit www.prairieinnovation.caor call Assiniboine Community College at 204 725 8700 ext 6199.

The post ACC Forum To Discuss Climate Change appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The grant, funded through the Sustainable Development Innovations Fund, will allow the use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to inventory and document medicinal lands that are important to Aboriginal communities in Manitoba.

The identification and location of medicinal plant species is not only important to the Aboriginal communities in this region, such as the Dakota, Ojibwa, Cree, and Métis, but also to the conservation community. With this knowledge captured by ACC students, the college hopes that Aboriginal communities will be empowered to take ownership of their lost, forgotten and at one time forbidden teachings.

Students and staff from the School of Agriculture & Environment will work alongside those from the School of Health & Human Services to complete the project.

“This project will provide an opportunity for our students from different programs and schools of study to work together on a very important part of our cultural heritage in this province,” said Nicole Rabe, instructor, GIS Environmental Technologies.

Rabe and instructor Leona McIntyre will start project planning this academic year. Elders will also be consulted in an interview process as part of Aboriginal Community Development programming in the new year to identify the type and location of commonly used medicinal plant species.

The instructors hope to hire two ACC co-operative education students in 2009 to work together in the field and carry out the geospatial medicinal inventory in Spruce Woods Provincial Park. This park is situated on the Assiniboine Delta aquifer and has a high level of biodiversity due to the geomorphology of the region.

“The importance of traditional ecological knowledge has been a part of the Aboriginal livelihood for thousands of years,” said Leona McIntyre, instructor, Aboriginal Community Development.

“As Aboriginal people, we are given the gift of being guardians of mother earth and by respecting the land, we are teaching our children the importance of understanding the medicines and their uses. This is a very exciting project and by combining the resources between two different programs and faculties, we can truly say that we are protecting our future.”

The post Project to map traditional medicinal plants appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.