Rising colony losses and mounting economic pressure are putting Canada’s beekeeping sector under strain, with implications that stretch far beyond honey production. In this episode of the Final Mile podcast, host Shaun Haney speaks with Connie Phillips of the Alberta Beekeepers Commission and Dr. Shelley Hoover of the University of Lethbridge about the current state... Read More

For decades, public agricultural research in Canada helped build the sector we know today. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s network of research centres, satellite farms and labs, along with provincial institutions and universities, underpinned much of the innovation that farmers now see as standard: canola’s development, better forage and livestock systems, improved disease and pest management,... Read More

Farmers who pay commodity check-off or levy dollars that support research may be eligible for a federal tax credit through the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax incentive program. Administered by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), the SR&ED program encourages investment in research and development (R&D) by offering tax incentives for eligible work carried... Read More

Canada’s wheat breeding system has delivered strong returns for farmers for decades, but a new review suggests the current model is facing growing pressure and may require significant transformation to remain competitive. The report was commissioned by the Canadian Wheat Research Coalition (CWRC), which consists of the three Prairie province wheat grower organizations – Alberta... Read More

Advances in remote sensing and digital imaging are helping researchers detect crop stress earlier and measure plant traits with a level of precision that traditional field scouting can’t match. Dr. Keshav Singh, remote sensing and phenomics lead with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at Lethbridge, Alta., is leading a program that uses drones and ground-based robotic... Read More

By Ron DePauw and Rob Graf Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) plan to close research stations across multiple provinces targets the very infrastructure that underpins Canada’s agricultural competitiveness while leaving the department’s growing administrative overhead largely untouched. No one disputes the need for fiscal discipline. But cutting front-line science that consistently delivers some of the... Read More

Verticillium stripe continues to challenge canola growers across the Prairies, and new research at the University of Manitoba is working to better understand how the disease behaves and how it can be managed. Harmeet Chawla, assistant professor at the University of Manitoba, joins RealAgriculture's Amber Bell for this episode of Canola School, outlining several applied... Read More

The Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA) is moving to a new leadership model, announcing the appointment of a general manager and a revised organizational structure designed to strengthen collaboration and decision-making across the organization. In a news release, OSCIA confirmed that Julie Henderson has been appointed to the newly created role of general... Read More