Lack Of Vitamin B12 Can Be Debilitating

I always felt that as long as I ate a balanced diet, I did not need to take any additional vitamins. I was forced to change my thinking about this in recent years. It started when I began to feel constantly tired. The problem became so strong that simple day-to-day work left me exhausted, even

Rain Soaks Brazil’s Bumper Soy Crop

Wet weather continues to favour Brazil’s bumper soybean crop, the bulk of which is still a couple months away from being ready for harvest, weather forecaster Somar said Jan. 11. Mato Grosso and the rest of the centre-west got healthy rainfall over the weekend and should continue to see ample rains through the week. Despite


MSGA Honours U Of M Plant Breeder Anita Brûlé-Babel

University of Manitoba plant breeder Anita Brlé-Babel has received an Honorary Life Membership award from the Manitoba Seed Growers’ Association (MSGA). The award, presented Dec. 9 at the MSGA annual banquet in Winnipeg, is in recognition of Brlé-Babel’s significant contributions to the pedigreed seed industry. Brlé-Babel specializes in wheat breeding and genetics and teaches several

Peru Finds Swine Flu In Amazon Tribe

Members of an Amazon tribe have tested positive for the new H1N1 swine flu, Peruvian health officials said Aug. 12, raising concerns the deadly virus could spread to more remote communities with limited defences against disease. The seven cases, reported in the Matsigenka tribe, were confirmed by the Health Ministry’s regional office in southeastern Peru.

AgriVenture Delivers More Than Expected

The Walkers are now comfortably settled in their own home in Oakbank, Manitoba. Margaret Szklaruk wanted to see the world, learn about other countries and their people, and enjoy new experiences. She achieved that with the help of an excellent exchange program, but didn’t expect to find her life partner all the way across the


The Looming Food Crisis?

We are not trying to pick a fight with the scientists and companies who provide the basic research on GMOs, just their pitchmen… their arguments are disingenuous at best and blackmail at worst. We tend to cringe when we hear someone argue that food production is not keeping up with demand. We heard Earl Butz

Brazil On Target In Slowing Amazon Deforestation

“Our objective is not only to meet but exceed the target in our climate change plan.” – CARLOS MINC, ENVIRONMENT MINISTER Brazil is on track to meet its target to reduce Amazon deforestation this year and will cut credit to ranchers and meat packers who raise or buy cattle from illegally logged land, the environment

Brazil Soy Growers Fear Green Backlash, Plant Trees

Soybean farmer Clovis Cortezia has started replanting native rainforest trees on his farm to meet demands of international buyers keen to be environmentally responsible. Like other growers in Brazil’s No. 1 soy-producing state Mato Grosso, Cortezia started replanting trees native to Brazil’s centre-west savanna in 2007 on 4.6 hectares of his 8,000-hectare farm in Lucas


Brazil’s Amazon plan sounds bold, but doubts abound

“Ten years is a long time out there and a lot of deforestation will have occurred by then.” – TOM LOVEJOY, HEINZ CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND THE ENVIRONMENT With its bold pledge to halve the rate of Amazon deforestation, Brazil wants to boost its international environmental credentials. But it may lack the conviction and resources

Burned plants may store more carbon in soil

An ancient technique of plowing charred plants into the ground to revive soil may also trap greenhouse gases for thousands of years and forestall global warming, scientists said Dec. 5. Heating plants such as farm waste or wood in airtight conditions produces a high-carbon substance called biochar, which can store the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide