Sustainable agriculture Archives - Page 34 of 37

Winterkill Of CPB Unlikely

May 7, 2009

There’s no doubt about it – that was a tough winter. The mercury dove early and stubbornly stayed down for weeks on end. An optimist might think it could have knocked out a few potato pests. Unfortunately that’s unlikely. Brent Elliot, an entomologist with Manitoba Agriculture says the habits of the Colorado potato beetle generally

News

PFRA Name Retired After 74 Years

By Laura Rance-Unger April 16, 2009

The PFRA, an agency with an acronym synonymous with soil conservation on the Prairies, has quietly been dissolved into a new branch of the federal government. The Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration is now part of the Agri-Environment Services Branch within Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, department officials confirmed last week. Jamshed Merchant, the assistant deputy minister

Crops, News

Summerfallow Was An Accident Of History

By Laura Rance-Unger April 9, 2009

Historians have dutifully chronicled the 1885 Battle of Batoche in Saskatchewan for its role quashing the Métis uprising led by Louis Riel. But less well known is how it caused the newly arrived agrarian settlers to take a wrong turn in soil management – one that would prove devastating to future generations and take more

Opinion

Innovation Capacity

By Laura Rance-Unger April 2, 2009

You could say mad scientists and farmers operating on the lunatic fringe brought about one of the greatest innovations of 20th century agriculture. Some might go so far as to suggest it has saved Prairie farming – from plowing itself into a dusty oblivion. Zero tillage or no-till farming, as it has come to be

Crops

You Can Come To Terms With Wireworms

By Ted Labun April 2, 2009

The bad news is that you can’t eliminate wireworms once they’re in your field, but the good news is you can protect your crop with a seed treatment the following year. Wireworms can have a devastating effect on cereal crops, resulting in poor emergence, compromised stand establishment and significantly reduced yields. Traditionally wireworms have been

Crops, Livestock

Cover Crops Go Beyond Nitrogen

By Glen Nicoll March 19, 2009

Like spending money to make money, some North Dakota grain producers are using soil nutrients to grow a soil-building cover crop. They have found seeding a diverse plant community or “cocktail” as a cover crop can do much more than put nitrogen into the soil. At a soil health workshop in Plumas sponsored by Mani

Beef cattle, Livestock

Market Access Key To Stabilizing Canadian Beef Industry

By Alex Binkley March 19, 2009

Expanding export opportunities and reducing unnecessary regulations are the best ways to restore profitability to the Canadian beef industry, cattle producers have told the Commons agriculture committee. About 65 per cent of the beef produced in Canada is consumed by Canadians, but that is a fairly stable market facing increased competition from imports, John Gillespie,

Beef cattle, Hogs, Livestock, News

Red Meat Industry Trying To Survive

By Alex Binkley March 12, 2009

Governments need to show more concern for the survival of the red meat industry and worry less about countervailing action because some provinces are willing to support livestock producers, pork and beef groups have told the House of Commons’ agriculture committee. Jurgen Preugschas, president of the Canadian Pork Council, told the MPs March 5, “It’s

Crops, Forages

Phosphorus Hard To Manage In Organic Systems

By Lorraine Stevenson March 12, 2009

“The problem is every time we’re removing forage, there goes our phosphorus and we’re never replacing it.” – Joanne Thiessen Martens, Organic Agriculture Centre Of Canada Research And Extension Associate Truly sustainable organic production systems recycle nutrients that are removed from the soil by crops. That is why farmers use legumes as cover crops and

News

Organic Beats High Input, No Till

By Daniel Winters March 5, 2009

“The organic systems were giving us higher net returns, and also more stable net returns, so a banker would really like that.” – BOB ZENTNER A 12-year study in semi-arid central Saskatchewan, comparing conventional, reduced-tillage and organic farming, found organic was the most profitable and made the most efficient use of non-renewable energy inputs. But

Daily Network News

Southern California honeybees show resistance to varroa mites

Pulse Weekly: SaskPulse optimistic despite input, crop price concerns

Canadian aquaculture should be classed as agriculture, industry groups say

Tag Archives Sustainable agriculture