Manitoba soils help NASA’s new gadgets take flight

From June 7 to July 17, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will fly two piloted aircraft several times a week over an area of mixed agricultural and forested land from Portage la Prairie to Carman in south-central Manitoba. These aircraft will carry instruments similar to those onboard a satellite that NASA will

Latest provincial flood relief pledges “smoke and mirrors,” fumes St. Laurent reeve

There are demands that province compensate 100 per cent for flood damage 
caused by “unnatural” increased flows from the Portage Diversion

A new one-time tax credit announced by the province to relieve the financial burden on municipalities around Lake Manitoba is not enough for at least one RM ravaged by flooding last year. “This tax credit is inadequate. It doesn’t even come close to bridging the financial deficit we’re facing in this municipality due to the


Sea change in salinity heralds shift in rainfall

Singapore/Reuters — Scientists have detected a clear change in salinity of the world’s oceans and have found that the cycle that drives rainfall and evaporation has intensified more than thought because of global warming. The finding published April 20 helps refine estimates of how different parts of the globe will be affected by increased rainfall

Province urged to speed up flood compensation

The flood waters have long receded, but many flood victims are still stuck in limbo. “Some Lake Manitoba people have gotten full compensation, some have got none,” Plumas farmer Lorne Rossnagel told delegates at Keystone Agricultural Producers’ General Council meeting on April 10. “It’s just a real hodgepodge.” KAP has been pressing the province to


Community pasture program to wind down

Ottawa is getting out of the community pasture business and streamlining Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada by rolling the Agri-Environment Services Branch, formerly known as PFRA, into the new Science and Technology Branch. Details were still trickling out last week, but according to Cam Dahl, general manager of the Manitoba Beef Producers, cattle farmers will still



Surface water management strategy a sustainable development imperative

It sure would be great to have access to the agricultural nutrients carried away 
by flood waters, as fertilizer prices continue to climb

What a difference a year makes. Last year at this time all of southern Manitoba was in various stages of panic as forecasts revealed just how bad the 2011 flood might be. Ultimately our traditional flooding hot spot, the Red River Valley was mostly spared with a combination of manageable flows and decades of preparation.

Agribition launches 2012 scholarships

Staff / Canadian Western Agribition’s annual scholarships are open for applications for 2012. “One of Agribition’s strongest goals is to promote innovation in agriculture. There is no better way to foster innovation than to feed the minds of the young people who will be our industry’s leaders in the near future,” said Marty Seymour, CEO


Mexicans see current drought as sign of drier years to come

Reuters / Authorities fear a severe drought in Mexico is just a foretaste of a drier future. As water tankers race across northern Mexico to reach far-flung towns, and crops wither in the fields, the government has allotted US$2.7 billion in emergency aid to confront the country’s worst-ever drought, which has caused $1.2 billion in

More briefs, March 22

Sudan rivals step back from brink washington / reuters Sudan and South Sudan have stepped back from the brink of all-out confrontation and the world community should seize on this to win humanitarian access to food-starved regions and press for broader reconciliation, senior U.S. officials said March 14. Princeton Lyman, the top Obama administration official