Bipole route fails to consider effects on farming

The needs of agriculture were ranked equally with garter snakes, while birds, mammals and caribou were given extra consideration

The following is an excerpt of a presentation by Niverville farmer Karen Friesen to the Clean Environment Commission hearings on Bipole III last month. The hearings are continuing in Winnipeg through November. Of the 20 million acres farmed in Manitoba, only 25 per cent is classified as Land Inventory Classes 1, 2, and 3 —



Manitoba Breeding Bird Atlas

Are you interested in birds? Would you like to contribute to a study about the various birds that nest in Manitoba? Then consider joining the project called the Manitoba Breeding Bird Atlas. Now in its third year, this is a five-year project that aims to record the distribution and abundance of all the birds that


Good data is the antidote to hype

Magnetized seed, cheese whey, aspirin and diesel exhaust are among some crop-enhancing treatments farmers have been urged to buy over the years. A lot more are certain to appear when companies don’t have to prove their fertilizers work to get them registered, predicts Don Flaten, a professor of soil science at the University of Manitoba.


OUR HISTORY: Interfacing with history

Canada Post is celebrating cowboy culture with the introduction of two new stamps in honour of the Calgary Stampede’s centennial this July. The two stamps, featuring a rodeo horse and a silver and gold anniversary belt buckle, are now available in post offices, online and via phone orders. But for the first time, collectors who

Conservation congress comes to Winnipeg

staff / The Sixth World Congress on Conservation Agriculture will be held in Winnipeg in June 2014. “That conference will showcase Canadian farm developments such as no-till farming systems to the world,” says Don McCabe, president of Soils Conservation Council of Canada. “The Beneficial Management Practices employed in conservation agriculture are the backbone of sustainability.

Farmers now have the ability to conduct their own cutting-edge ag research

Conducting your own field-based studies can show exactly how a specific 
agronomic practice will perform in a particular field

Farmers need to step up and get involved in a new era of research, and it needs to be on farm, field scale, farmer driven, and collaborative, says Ty Faechner, executive director of the Agricultural Research and Extension Council of Alberta. “I don’t think traditional research will ever go away,” Faechner told attendees at the


Sun’s magnetic field could jinx GPS

Don’t blame the manufacturers — or even the gremlins — if your GPS system goes a little wonky in 2012. It’s likely solar flares will wreak havoc with at least some systems this coming year as the sun flips its magnetic field, says Pam Wilson, a precision agriculture instructor with Assiniboine Community College. “Basically the sun’s

Want to learn something new about agriculture?

Manitoba Ag Days is celebrating 35 years of bringing the best and brightest in the agricultural community all together under one roof at Brandon’s Keystone Centre. “We have a high-level indoor show and the fact that it’s all in one place is a real benefit,” says Manitoba Ag Days co-chair, Scott Perkin. This year’s event