(Video screengrab from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada via YouTube)

Plant protein supercluster makes cut for federal funding

At the table with artificial intelligence, big data, advanced manufacturing and ocean-based energy, Prairie pulse, oilseed and cereal crops are in for a share of federal support to spur innovation in Canada. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains on Thursday announced Protein Industries Canada (PIC) as one of five “superclusters” which will receive


Editorial: Green tape

Hipsters and hippies across the country are set to celebrate cannabis legalization this coming Canada Day. The Trudeau government is on track for legalizing this recreational drug by that date, one of the highest-profile promises made during the last election campaign. That’s likely a good thing. While any recreational drug, alcohol included, is a problem

Canadian hemp markets could be side-swiped by U.S.

Canadian hemp markets could be side-swiped by U.S.

Overly enthusiastic U.S. producers could potentially swamp 
the market if the crop is fully legalized

Future hemp markets are uncertain as Canadian buyers wait to see if hemp production is legalized in the United States, according to one industry professional. “There still is a lot of excitement (in the U.S.) about hemp as being something new… that grassroots excitement is one that we’re watching closely to make sure it doesn’t


Vurayayi Pugeni, who works with the Mennonite Central Committee out of Winnipeg and Score Against Poverty, a Zimbabwean NGO, says a project designed by the University of Manitoba’s Martin Entz and his colleagues has brought food security to his Zimbabwean village through innovations such as intercropping 
with legumes.

Manitoba project aids Zimbabwean food security

Hemp Genetics International thinks Canadian and Zimbabwean farmers can learn from each other

If you had four children, but only enough food to feed one, how would you choose? It’s a choice Vurayayi Pugeni’s mother had to make when he was growing up in Zimbabwe. Fortunately it’s not one mothers today in Pugeni’s village have to make because they enjoy food security, thanks in part to a research

A hemp plant in Alberta. (Jennifer Blair photo)

Post-secondary cannabis credentials on offer

Degree and diploma aggies interested in producing commercial cannabis and/or hemp will be able to get college-certified starting next year. Niagara College announced Tuesday it will launch a graduate certificate program in commercial cannabis production in 2018, a program it bills as Canada’s “first post-secondary credential” in the crop’s production. Niagara picked up approval this


Rod Fisher stands in a hemp field near Dauphin.

Regulations force hemp producers to destroy valuable nutraceuticals

Health Canada will consult with hemp industry in lead-up to cannabis legalization

Rod Fisher is an old hand at what is still a relatively new Canadian crop — hemp. When production was legalized in 1998, Fisher and his two brothers obtained a Health Canada licence and dipped their toes into the water with a few dozen acres. Today, they plant between 1,500 and 1,600 acres each year.

Jeff Kostuik, of Hemp Genetics International, suggested tour attendees take a very close look at Wayne Williment’s organic hemp field near Miami, Man. Although the plant population is thin due to excessive rain soon after emergence, the weeds are under control thanks in part to inter-row cultivation earlier in the growing season.

Researchers investigating boosting organic hemp yields

Nutrient management is important for getting better and more consistent yields

There were a lot of guesses why one plot of organic hemp looked so poor compared to another a few metres away. Competition from weeds? Soil compaction? Variety? Finally someone correctly guessed seeding date. But there was a surprise. The thriving plot was planted later than the poor one — much later — which is



Delegates participating in the Canadian Society for Bioengineering convention Food, Fuel and Fibre for a Sustainable Future enter the ‘Green Garage’ site at the University of Manitoba’s Alternative Village during an August tour.

U of M showcases alternative building materials

‘Hempcrete,’ soy-based roof panels and other Manitoba-grown biomass products 
are tested and evaluated at University of Manitoba’s Alternative Village

It looks like any other shipping container, but what’s inside could help boost food security in remote areas of the country one day. Biosystems engineers at the University of Manitoba are perfecting a self-contained unit which includes a biomass boiler that produces up to 56 kW of heat. The unit also has a Stirling engine