cattle in a feedlot

Health Canada reviews water quality impact of popular growth promoter

Manitoba Beef Producers says the environmental benefits of growth hormones 
in cattle production outweigh the risks

More research has emerged suggesting that growth promoters used in the cattle-feeding business may persist in the environment longer than previously thought. Researchers at Indiana University’s Bloomington School of Public and Environmental Affairs found that while the synthetic testosterone known as trenbolone acetate or TBA breaks down in sunlight, darkness allows it to revert back

soil erosion

Human security at risk as depletion of soil accelerates, scientists warn

Change is needed so that valuable, non-renewable fertilizers are recycled

Steadily and alarmingly, humans have been depleting Earth’s soil resources faster than the nutrients can be replenished. If this trajectory does not change, soil erosion, combined with the effects of climate change, will present a huge risk to global food security over the next century, warns a review paper authored by some of the top



Gary Martens photos: supplied

The view from Northern Blossom Farms

A university instructor is turning his nano farm into a living laboratory for sustainable farming systems

I spoke to a number of young farmers recently and learned that they are questioning the business decision that every farmer makes every year: Hold $2 million in assets, invest another $250,000 cash in a crop in order to get $60,000 profit. And that is if everything goes right, which it typically doesn’t. What is


Goats’ milk speeds recovery from diarrhea

Milk from goats that were genetically modified to produce higher levels of a human antimicrobial protein has proved effective in treating diarrhea in young pigs, demonstrating the potential for food products from transgenic animals to one day also benefit human health, report researchers at the University of California, Davis. The study is the first on

Growth lies with finished products, not commodities

Canada’s once huge trade surplus in farm and food products has fallen into almost a deficit position

Canada suffers from “a commodity mentality” and needs to export more processed foods, says the chair of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute. The country is also missing the boat in servicing the fast-growing economies in Asia, Latin America and eastern Europe, says Ted Bilyea, a former executive vice-president of Maple Leaf Foods. “Currently, half of


An apple a day…

The other day, I was admiring our prolific apple tree through my kitchen window and pondering how I should use and share all of the rosy red fruit. Last year, I made jelly, pies, dried apples and apple juice. Apples are members of the rose family, and according to archeologists, we humans have been consuming

Apples Promote Good Health

That apple tree is amazing. Look at this apple! my 12-year-old daughter exclaimed as she held up a large, bright-red apple. She had just come inside after using our apple picker to pluck some of the brightest-red fruits high in the tree in our backyard. We can make lots of things with apples, can t


Warmer World Equals More Pests

Beetles killing trees in North America, bluetongue disease ravaging livestock in Europe, and borers destroying African coffee crops are examples of migrating invasive species not getting enough attention at global climate talks, scientists said Dec. 8. Invasive pests have plagued agriculture and nature for thousands of years as mankind’s migrations brought them to places without

Nothing To Hide

Forty-five years may have dimmed a frame or two of memory, but I can still see my father emptying small bags of flour-like powder into a five-gallon bucket and then, slowing stirring in a trickle of water until the two ingredients combined to make a chalky, white cream. The bags contained the still-new, pre-emergent herbicide