4-H’s 100th: Celebrations launched at Ag Days

Let the party begin. Manitoba 4-H Council leaders rolled out their plans during Ag Days last week for celebrations leading up to the 100th anniversary of 4-H in Canada. “Manitoba has a very special relationship to 4-H with Roland being the birthplace of 4-H in Canada,” said Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Minister Ron

Seven Billion And Growing

To me this is the major problem facing the world, said Michael Trevan, dean of the faculty of agricultural and food sciences at the University of Manitoba. Climate change may come and go… but we ve got a bigger problem on our hands. He noted world population is expected to reach 9.5 billion in the


Climate Change Adaptation Is A Priority

Here at the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, we ve been saying that a lot over the past couple of years. For smallholder farmers, women, fisher folk and other people especially vulnerable to climate change, support in adapting to the changes they re experiencing is more important than trying to slow those changes. After all, they produce

CFB Signs New $125-Million Five-Year Agreement

A new five-year $125-million funding agreement signed between the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFB) and the federal government means the Canadian food aid program will continue its quick and early response to global food crisis. Minister of International Co-operation Beverly Oda announced October 26 that Ottawa will provide the CFB, a partnership of 15 churches and


RecipeSwap

Hunger is exclusion. Exclusion from the land, from jobs, wages, income, life and citizenship. When a person gets to the point of having nothing to eat, it is because all the rest has been denied. I keep Josue de Castro s words pinned near my desk, lest I be tempted to believe I m really

Update From East Africa: People Pushed To The Brink

Canadian Foodgrains Bank executive director Jim Cornelius is on a study leave in Kenya and Ethiopia. Last week he sent this observation from southern Ethiopia, which is experiencing its worst food crisis in 60 years. Unlike the major Ethiopia famines in 1972 and 1984, which were concentrated in the northern highlands of Ethiopia, this food


Letters – for Jul. 28, 2011

The July 14 article, “Subsidies, new methods lift Zambian farm yields,” clearly positions accessing subsidies as being more important than applying the principles of conservation farming as key to increasing smallholder food production in Zambia. The experience of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank is quite different. The Canadian Foodgrains Bank supports numerous conservation farming projects where

Simple Solutions To The Food Challenge

Last month a milestone was marked in the history of world agriculture when the bovine disease rinderpest was officially declared eradicated. Though unknown in North America, rinderpest or “cattle plague” has been a devastating killer of cattle and wildlife for millennia in Europe, Africa and Asia. After smallpox, it’s only the second disease in history


Companies Chip In For CFGB Growing Projects

To be successful, Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB) growing projects require land, people, time and energy. The fundraising efforts also need inputs like seed, fertilizer and other chemicals – products generously provided by some of Canada’s leading agro-sciences corporations. This year over $220,000 of inputs have been donated through CFGB to growing projects across Canada by

Youth Travel To Guatemala To Learn About Food Security

Ten youth from across Canada will travel to Guatemala in May to learn first hand about food security issues. The 15-day food tour put on by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank is focused on food justice issues. Guatemala is among the 10 poorest countries in Latin America and it is estimated half of the population lives