Move over, apples

“Mom, I’m going to have an orange,” my teenage daughter said as she passed by me on her way to the kitchen sink. “That’s good. There’s a plastic orange peeler in the drawer,” I said. I was pleased that she knew she should wash her hands and then rinse the whole fruit under running water

Storage checkup

During the winter it’s easy to get caught up with the many activities that prevail in our Prairie communities. Couple that with work and family responsibilities, and it is sometimes difficult to remember to check all the garden produce that we have stored away for the winter. Vegetables as well as flower bulbs and corms


Optimism in agriculture unprecedented, says KAP president

It’s a good time to be a farmer and the future for agriculture looks even brighter, says Keystone Agricultural Producers’ president Doug Chorney. “I think the level of optimism in agriculture today is really unprecedented,” he said in his state-of-the-industry address kicking off the general farm organization’s 29th annual meeting in Winnipeg Jan. 23. “I

Fiscal battles block work on new U.S. farm subsidy bill

Reuters / Fiscal battles in Congress could prevent lawmakers from writing a new Farm Bill for weeks or months, prolonging disputes over farm subsidy reforms and cuts in food stamps for the poor that together could save up to $35 billion. Agricultural leaders in Congress originally hoped for speedy work on the overdue Farm Bill


Research supports need for crustacean welfare

The food and aquaculture industries should reconsider how they treat live crustaceans such as crabs, prawns and lobsters, says a Queen’s University Belfast researcher who has found that crabs are likely to feel pain. The latest study by Professor Bob Elwood and Barry Magee from Queen’s School of Biological Sciences looked at the reactions of

4-H courting urban, Aboriginal youth to boost enrolment

Facing declining membership, 4-H Manitoba hopes to draw in urban 
and First Nations youth as it heads into its second century

Times are changing, farms are changing, and so is 4-H. Since its inception in the southern Manitoba village of Roland, a century ago, the venerable youth organization has been dedicated to instilling agricultural knowledge and universal life skills in rural youth. But looking to the future also means looking to urban centres for growth. “We’re



Horsemeat found in British burgers

Burger King, one of the most popular fast-food chains in Britain and Ireland, said Jan. 24 it had stopped using one of the firms caught up in the scandal of supplying grocers with beef that contained horsemeat. The British food industry has been rocked by the revelation last week that retailers including market leader Tesco


Hitting the sweet spot

If Calvin Vaags has his way, Manitoba will have a federally inspected ruminant slaughter plant capable of handling 1,000 head per week up and running within a year. After three years of preparation, work has started on a $13-million expansion at Plains Processors, a small processing plant with a capacity of 80 head per week

Dietary shifts driving up phosphorus use

Rising meat consumption, and calorie intakes are 
complicating efforts to conserve essential resource

Dietary changes since the early 1960s have fuelled a sharp increase in the amount of mined phosphorus used to produce the food consumed by the average person over the course of a year, according to a new study led by researchers at McGill University. Between 1961 and 2007, rising meat consumption and total calorie intake