Kathleen Wynne, premier of Ontario, has rolled out mandate letters to each of the provincial departments. Of particular note on the agriculture file headed up by Jeff Leal, Wynne's set priorities for the Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs, under the heading "Ensuring Sustainability of Agriculture," states: Strengthening pollinator health. You will work... Read More
Category: News
The concept of nitrogen fixation in cereal crops is getting some mainstream attention after a trio of 16 year-olds from Ireland won an international prize for their work with nitrogen-fixing bacteria in wheat, barley and oats. The prizes for the 2014 Google Science Fair — the world's largest science competition for teenagers — were handed... Read More
Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, near Niagara, Ontario, will soon feature the largest greenhouse facility of its kind in Canada, thanks to a $10 million investment by the provincial government. Vineland is well known for its work in fruit and vegetable research and development, and recently commercialized Pixie grapes, a one-of-kind, ornamental dwarf grapevine, and... Read More
The Manitoba and federal governments have announced $400,000 for a four-year feed wheat breeding project to be conducted by the farmer-run Western Feed Grain Development Co-op. According to a government news release, the focus of the project will be to "develop new feed wheat varieties that have characteristics such as high yield, flood tolerance, fusarium... Read More
After several months without any new cases, porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus has been found on two hog farms in Manitoba within the last week. The province's Chief Veterinary Officer on Thursday confirmed Manitoba's fourth on-farm case in a sow operation in the southeast corner of the province. Just six days earlier, PED was also... Read More
At General Mills' 86th annual meeting held yesterday in Minneapolis, shareholders voted resoundingly against a proposal to eliminate genetically modified ingredients from its products. The proposal was submitted by Harriett Crosby of Maryland. The proposal cites Goss' Wilt, Agent Orange, Bt-resistant rootworms and gluten-intolerance induced by glyphosate as some of the reasons to eliminate GMOs.... Read More
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz today completed a trade mission to China and India to open new markets for Canadian farmers and agriculture industries. Of particular note, Minister Ritz met with China’s Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu to work to secure permanent access for Canadian live cattle valued by industry at $150 million annually once fully... Read More
Almost a decade after negotiations began, the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement was signed today in Ottawa by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Korean President Park Geun-hye. The deal is expected to help Canadian agricultural exports compete against American exports, as sales of Canadian beef, pork and other commodities have declined since South Korea ratified a... Read More
Last Friday's frost over much of eastern and central Ontario has knocked back the corn crop, and has left the soybeans looking rough. Top pods are worst hit, as is to be expected, which could mean overall yields won't be as impacted as feared, depending on how deep into the canopy the frost penetrated. The... Read More
The Ontario corn crop's "slow stagger to maturity" wasn't helped any last night by an early frost. Lows of -2 degrees C and colder were reported across a large swath of eastern Ontario this morning, though official temps and final area impacted by the frost has yet to be released. (See map below from Weather... Read More