Did you know? & Farming Articles - Manitoba Co-operator

New research shows how water moves massive amounts of carbon laterally through ecosystems — especially during floods. PHOTO: MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Soil carbon goes with the flow

Lateral movement of carbon throughout landscapes is much more significant than thought

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff November 26, 2018

The carbon cycle isn’t just vertical — CO2 moving up and down between soil, plants and the atmosphere. New Michigan State University research published in the current issue of Geophysical Research Letters, shows water moves massive amounts of carbon laterally through ecosystems — especially during floods. These findings — which analyzed more than 1,000 watersheds

Shrub willows, on the left, planted on marginal land adjacent to a corn crop.

Did you know?, News, Other

Energy crops a benefit

If the land isn’t growing cash crops give energy options a shot, say researchers

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff November 20, 2018

There’s always some section of a farm that’s perennially too wet, too dry, or just doesn’t produce. It may be time to give up and sow them down to something like shrub willow or switchgrass, perennial bioenergy crops. That’s according to a report tabled recently at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America.

These two animals are both Gir cattle, but on the left is a beef animal and to the right a dairy cow.

Did you know?, News

Gene research could beef up the herd

Brazilian researchers identify 35 genes associated with various attributes

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff November 14, 2018

Most cattle-breeding programs have long concentrated on fast-growing traits in the calves. Now Brazilian researchers are targeting other traits, such as meat tenderness and the size of the rib-eye muscle area. They’re doing so by studying the genome of the Gir cattle breed, common in that country, and have identified 35 genes that are associated

If the entire world were to eat a healthy diet there simply wouldn’t be enough fruits and vegetables to go around.

Did you know?, News

A dietary mismatch

Agriculture produces plenty of food, but not necessarily the right types

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff November 6, 2018

If everyone on the planet wanted to eat a healthy diet, there wouldn’t be enough fruit and vegetables to go around. A team of researchers at the University of Guelph compared global agricultural production with nutritionists’ consumption recommendations and found a drastic mismatch. “We simply can’t all adopt a healthy diet under the current global

A new research project from Europe could address the question of how to feed humans in space.

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Space… the final farming frontier

Treatment with one plant hormone appears to make space farming possible

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff October 31, 2018

With scarce nutrients and weak gravity, growing potatoes on the moon or on other planets seems unimaginable. But the plant hormone strigolactone could make it possible, plant biologists from the University of Zurich have shown. The hormone supports the symbiosis between fungi and plant roots, thus encouraging plants’ growth — even under the challenging conditions

Did you know?, News

Box it up

Researchers say ‘control boxes’ could limit nitrate run-off  from tile drains

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff October 23, 2018

Tile drainage is a boon in a wet spring but it can also increase nitrate run-off into nearby waterways and eventually lakes and even the ocean. The answer, when the problem was first discovered in the 1980s, was to develop “edge of field” practices, keeping saturated strips of natural landscape near streams to remove nitrates,

Graduate student Jorge Venegas inspects wheat-breeding lines, University of Nebraska greenhouse.

Did you know?, News

Pumping iron

This research project aims to boost iron in wheat varieties

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff October 17, 2018

Biofortified wheat could certainly make it easier to help some humans get proper nutrition. Biofortification is the process of naturally increasing the nutritional value of a crop. Unlike fortification, which might add a mineral like iron directly to something like bread dough, the goal of biofortification is to have the wheat naturally contain more iron.

A compound in milk appears to protect appetite in chemotherapy patients.

Did you know?, News

Milk protein could help cancer patients

Researchers say lactoferrin can help maintain appetite giving patients better outcomes

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff October 9, 2018

A major problem for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy is weight loss due to loss of appetite. There are many reasons for this, but one important one is that these types of cancer therapy destroy the delicate interplay between the senses of smell and taste that make food appealing. In a new paper published in the

Global warming could boost Canadian farm production, according to a new report.

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Climate change likely to boost Canadian farm production

UN report says temperate areas like Canada will actually benefit from a warming globe but others will hurt

By MarketsFarm Team October 3, 2018

A new United Nations’ report suggests just how climate change will reshape agriculture by 2050. It says international trade will play an ever-larger role in helping to feed people in food-deficit regions as warmer temperatures and less precipitation will damage yields in many tropical areas. Temperate areas, such as Canada and the United States, are

This map shows how North America appeared just over 12,000 years ago. During the Pleistocene, repeated glaciations occurred.

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Farmers prevented the ice age

If it weren’t for the methane and carbon dioxide emissions of early farmers the world would look much different

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff September 26, 2018

Millenia ago, ancient farmers cleared land to plant wheat and maize, potatoes and squash. They flooded fields to grow rice. They began to raise livestock. And unknowingly, they may have been fundamentally altering the climate of the Earth. A study published in the journal Scientific Reports provides new evidence that ancient farming practices led to

Daily Network News

B.C. ostriches culled, CFIA confirms

U.S. livestock: Cattle, hogs end week on high note

U.S. grains: Soybeans bounce as Chinese demand assessed, wheat drops

Did you know?

Soil carbon goes with the flow

Energy crops a benefit

Gene research could beef up the herd

A dietary mismatch

Space… the final farming frontier

Box it up

Pumping iron

Milk protein could help cancer patients

Climate change likely to boost Canadian farm production

Farmers prevented the ice age

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