Breaking Down The Windbreaks

It’s common to hear the chainsaws buzzing this time of year, as the untold number of residents in this province who heat with wood at least some of the time go about gathering, stacking and splitting their winter supply. It’s hard to imagine a more annoying sound than these saws cutting through the afternoon’s calm,

Province Bans New Sewage Ejector Installations

“… where it makes sense to remove the ejector and put in the proper sewage disposal system, we’re all for that. But don’t paint the whole province with the same brush.” – DOUG DOBROWOLSKI, AMM PRESIDENT New rules governing human sewage disposal in Manitoba will produce costly headaches for rural property owners, say Association of


PFRA Name Retired After 74 Years

The PFRA, an agency with an acronym synonymous with soil conservation on the Prairies, has quietly been dissolved into a new branch of the federal government. The Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration is now part of the Agri-Environment Services Branch within Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, department officials confirmed last week. Jamshed Merchant, the assistant deputy minister

Innovation Capacity

You could say mad scientists and farmers operating on the lunatic fringe brought about one of the greatest innovations of 20th century agriculture. Some might go so far as to suggest it has saved Prairie farming – from plowing itself into a dusty oblivion. Zero tillage or no-till farming, as it has come to be


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