CFA Wants Farm Income Action

Canada’s already financially battered farm sector “will face an extraordinarily difficult year, particularly those in the cattle and hog sectors,” the Canadian Federation of Agriculture has warned. The forecast is based on income data compiled by Agriculture Canada and confirms what farm leaders across the country have been hearing from producers, says Laurent Pellerin, president

Study Finds Chemicals Threaten Honeybee Health

“It’s one more arrow in the quiver.” – HEATHER CLAY, CHC Anew U. S. study has detected a number of pesticides in North American honeybee colonies at far higher levels than previously known. Scientists have found “unprecedented levels of miticides and agricultural pesticides in honeybee colonies from across the U. S. and one Canadian province,”


Atamanenko Proposal To Expand GE Crop Review Stalled

A proposal by NDP Agricultural Critic Alex Atamanenko to expand the assessment of new GE crop varieties to include their export market acceptability was stalled in the Commons March 17. He likely won’t learn the fate of his private member’s bill for some time, but Conservative MPs seem determined to talk it out when it

Briefs continued – for Feb. 18, 2010

Fatal mishap: A driver who abandoned a broken-down half-ton and a set of heavy harrows partially obstructing the traffic lane on a major highway overnight has been charged with criminal negligence causing death after a car collided with the equipment, killing the occupant. The accident on Hwy. 16 near Russell June 27, 2009 killed Jason



Groups Remain Concerned With Bill 7

Farm and rural groups are lining up to voice their concerns over proposed new food safety legislation in Manitoba, but they might have to wait until next fall to do it. Bill 7 had not yet received second reading, been reviewed by cabinet or been scheduled for public consultations as of early this week. The


Devastating New Stem Rust Advances Beyond Africa

“It’s probably not a matter of if but when.” –TOM FETCH, AAFC “Behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, healthy and good. And behold, seven heads of grain, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprang up after them. And the thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy and full

Time To Rethink The Beef Business

We are encouraged by a growing consumer movement towards not only organic foods, but just as important, local foods. Has anyone paid much attention to the NFU’s November 19, 2008 report on The Farm Crisis and the Cattle Sector? Among other things, the report reveals that average cattle prices are nearly half what they were


Consumers Still Fret About Grain Prices

Uncertainty over U. S. spring plantings of corn and soybeans and recent weakness in the dollar have brought a resurgence in grain prices that spells fresh headaches for consumers and food makers this year. The commodities, at the base of a food chain that feeds into hundreds of supermarket products, from oils to starches to

Chef touts taste, versatility of pulses

As Canada’s food culture matures and concerns about sustainability in the food system intensify, more will discover the infinite possibilities of cooking with pulses, says a renowned Canadian celebrity chef. Jamie Kennedy’s restaurant at the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art in Toronto was the setting last week for an inspired sampling and sharing of exquisitely