First Organically Bred Wheat And Oat Lines Enter Co-Op Trials

Oat and wheat varieties bred specifically to perform well in the low-input conditions of an organic production system are one step closer to becoming a commercial reality. Two lines of wheat and two lines of oats developed by the Organic Wheat Breeding Program, based at Carman are now entering first-year co-op testing trials towards evaluation

Rural Schools Pursue New Way Of Teaching Agriculture

They caught and identified bugs, walked the banks of the Boyne River looking for evidence of riverbank erosion, spoke to weed and soil specialists about biodiversity, ecosystems and farm production systems. And while that might sound like any other end-of-school-year field trip, for about 100 Grade 10 students in south-central Manitoba, the visit to the


Party Agriculture Platforms For May 2 Election

CONSERVATIVE PARTY: A Conservative government would invest $100 million over five years into the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, extend accelerated writeoffs for new food-processing equipment and create a $50-million agriculture innovation fund. It would increase support for the Agriculture and Food Trade Commissioner Service and the Market Access Secretariat to find new markets for Canadian

Organic Alliance Seeks Financial Relief For Small Growers

Aprovincial industry lobby group wants the Manitoba government to ease the financial burden which new regulations will place on small organic farmers. The Manitoba Organic Alliance is asking the province to rebate part of the money small producers will have to pay to comply with organic standards under the incoming regulations. Currently, growers can sell


Rebate Proposal Backed By Organic Growers

The Manitoba Organic Alliance will meet with Agriculture Minister Stan Struthers this week to ask the province to subsidize the cost of organic certification for growers who only sell locally. The rebate proposal emerged from a discussion among growers at last week’s Growing Local Conference over how to assist smaller producers who can’t afford the

Organic Farmers Want More Crops Covered By Crop Insurance

Organic farmers want the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation to add nitrogen-fixing and cover crops to the list of crops eligible for crop insurance in Manitoba. That’s the message the Manitoba Organic Alliance (MOA) took to the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC) board of directors and crop insurance officials during a meeting Feb. 15. “They said


Seed Bombs Planted In Vacant Urban Lots

Forget potted plants and privet hedges; a group of Buenos Aires artists want to make the Argentine capital a free-for-all kitchen garden, turning neglected parks and verges into verdant vegetable patches. Following in the footsteps of “guerrilla gardeners” who have been scattering flower seeds in vacant lots and roadsides in cities such as London and

U.K. Organic Sales Stable After Recession Fall

Sales of organic products in Britain has stabilized after a recession-driven decline which was particularly severe in the meat sector, the incoming director of the Soil Association said on Feb. 9. “Last year we saw a drop (in demand), particularly in some areas. The feeling is very much that it is more stable now and


Organic Wheat Tough To Move, Says CWB Marketer

Canadian organic wheat farmers have effectively been shut out of the European market due to lower-priced competition from Kazakhstan. After the meteoric rise of organic wheat to $30 per bushel in the spring of 2008 that ended in the global economic recession that began later that fall, food manufacturers started looking elsewhere for raw materials.

New Handbook For Organic Certification – for Dec. 2, 2010

Canadian Organic Growers (COG) has releasedRecord Keeping for Organic Growers,another handbook in its Practical Skills series of technical manuals for organic agriculture. COG’s says its aim is to help farmers reduce their time and anxiety around the record-keeping required for organic certification. Most farmers already save information about their inputs, products and methods, so this