Polls And Animal Welfare

As you are reading this article, we are going through a federal election. As with any election, a multitude of polls are being published that declare this or that federal party is going to win either a majority government or a minority government. While the political polls are considered useful by some, nothing but entertainment

What’s Up – for Apr. 28, 2011

Please forward your agricultural events to [email protected] or call 204-944-5762. April 26:Environmentally Sustainable Food Production: What is the Role for Animal Agriculture? Session with AAFC research scientist Dr. Henry Janzen and a farmer panel, 9:30 a.m. to noon, Carolyn Sifton Lecture Theatre, 130 Agriculture Building, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg. For more info or to pre-register


Food Fight Top Prize Goes To Hemp Cookies

Hemp’s growing popul arity got another boost last week with the grand prize at the Great Manitoba Food Fight going to a rural Manitoba woman who has created a cookie with it. New Bothwell’s Natalie Dueck took home $15,000 and the gold medal for her product she calls her “chocolate hemp snackers.” She was one

Reading The Small Print In The Soil

What is a healthy soil? It is difficult to def ine that term so we prefer to use the term soil quality. Soil quality can be measured in terms of organic matter, fertility, texture, salinity, cation exchange capacity, pH and a number of other factors, all of which have identifiable quantitative numbers that can be


Lots Of Heat, Not Much Light

There was a little heat but not much light from the five candidates who squared off in the two-hour debate on agricultural issues hosted by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture April 11. Despite his recent remarks in Minnedosa about letting farmers decide the future of the Canadian Wheat Board, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz reiterated the

What’s Up – for Apr. 21, 2011

——— Please forward your agricultural events to [email protected] or call 204-944-5762. April 26:Environmentally Sustainable Food Production: What is the Role for Animal Agriculture? Session with AAFC research scientist Dr. Henry Janzen and a farmer panel, 9:30 a.m. to noon, Carolyn Sifton Lecture Theatre, 130 Agriculture Building, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg. For more info or to


BU President Addresses MWI Convention

Rural Manitobans wasted no time making a critical educat ional need known to Deborah Poff after she became Brandon University’s new president in 2009: this province desperately needs doctors committed to living and working in a rural practice. She’s been there. Poff was vice-president of academics at the University of Northern British Columbia when it

Canola Acres Could Decline In Manitoba

Oilseed acres may be nearing their maximum in Manitoba and could decline over the next six years, according to projections from the provincial Agriculture Department. Total canola, flaxseed, sunflower and soybean acres will peak at 4.6 million acres in 2011 and fall slightly to 4.5 million acres by 2017, predicts Anastasia Kubinec, a Manitoba Agr


Climate Change A Mixed Bag For Farming On The Prairies

In an 1860 report to the British government, Captain John Palliser recommended against settling the southern Canadian Prairies because he considered the area too arid and poorly suited for farming. Now, a century and a half later, his words may be prescient. The Palliser Triangle, a 200,000-square-km area named after the 19th century explorer and

Cold Weather Makes Cattle “Greener”

Cattle emit less methane in the winter than in summer, a recent study has discovered. And now that the results have been sent to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, scientists will use it to develop a more accurate picture of the true contribution of ruminants to global warming. Previously, the IPCC had not taken