Students take part in one of the festival highlights, critter dipping, Sept. 20 during the 2017 Southwest Manitoba Water Festival near Elgin.

Students tap into water knowledge

Students tackled water health and conservation at the latest Southwest Manitoba Water Festival September 20 near Elgin, Man.

Summer is over, but about 180 fifth- and sixth-grade students from southwestern Manitoba still hit the lake Sept. 20. Six schools attended the 13th annual Southwest Manitoba Water Festival, hosted by the Turtle Mountain Conservation District and Assiniboine Hills Conservation District at Whitewater Park east of Elgin. The event draws from all schools in the

Will Jermey (r) displays his senior champion female with bull calf at the Canadian Junior Angus Association Showdown in Lloydminster, Sask. His herd is largely drawn from former 4-H projects.

4-H beef program aims at breeding over butchering

A small number of 4-H’ers in the Interlake are turning their heifer projects into purebred herds

It’s all about the ladies at Ashern’s Lakeside 4-H Beef Club. Unlike other clubs, and their focus on finishing cattle for market, this group is concentrating on breeding heifers, and senior members are aging out with a purebred herd already in hand as a result. Steers, ordinarily a 4-H staple, are in the minority, making


loblaws grocery store

Public trust starts with conversation, says food industry

How to start talking to consumers is the key question for Canadian companies and farmers

The companies that make up the food supply chain — everyone from farm supply companies to processors and retailers — want and need to build public trust and credibility. Farmers need to be a central part of that effort, a number of speakers told the annual meeting of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. Chantelle Donohue,

chickens in a barn

Mozart and mood lighting, a healthy prescription for chickens?

Combined with probiotics, it all adds up to a reduced need for drugs

In barns filled with classical music and lighting that changes to match the hues outside, rows of chickens are fed a diet rich in probiotics, a regimen designed to remove the need for the drugs and chemicals that have tainted the global food chain. As food giants face growing pressure to offer healthier produce, Southeast

Leadership needed in agri-food policy

During the last year or so, the agri-food industry has been the subject of enough reports on its economic potential and scope for improvement to fill a respectable bookshelf. Whether from academics, researchers, think-tanks or politicians, the documents focus on virtually all the major issues. Now to keep these tomes from gathering dust. The latest



Chinese state media kick into high gear to ease GMO food fears

China’s state media are working overtime to persuade the public that genetically modified food is safe, apparently softening up the population for a policy switch to allow the sale of such food to ensure its 1.35 billion people have enough to eat. In the past 30 years, China’s urban population has jumped to about 700

photo: istock

CFIA beefs up food safety rules and sets minimum traceability standards

Food companies and farms selling products in other provinces or internationally will need detailed preventive control plans

Traceability will gain a more prominent place on the menu, and food companies will be required to develop preventive control plans under a new regulatory plan proposed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The proposals, which follow the passage of the Safe Food for Canadians Act last fall, still have to be put into the


What’s a pet to some is dinner for others

What’s food and what’s taboo depends on a lot of things, including how human societies
developed, what made sense in different regions, and how humans ordered their world

What’s food and what’s taboo depends on a lot of things, including how human societies developed, what made sense in different regions, and how humans ordered their world Don McMahon gets a mixed reaction when he tells people what was served at his wedding reception in Uzbekistan last year. “Some people are kind of disgusted

WFO president optimistic about the future of farming

New World Farmers Organization head says demand needs to be met 
by yield increases in developing countries

Robert Carlson says it really is different this time. “I’m nervous about saying it but I do believe in my heart and my mind that it is true because we have new factors,” the North Dakota farmer and president of the fledgling World Farmers’ Organization (WFO) told the Keystone Agricultural Producers annual meeting in Winnipeg