Ag News

Researchers at the University of Manitoba are involved with conducting human clinical trials with food interventions.

Dylan MacKay is an assistant professor of nutrition and chronic disease at the Richardson Centre for Food Technology and Research.

The Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research and Development Centre in Morden is 107 years old.

Early research focused on livestock and has now moved into pulses, oilseeds, and cereals with research being conducted on genetics and breeding.

Associate Director Scott Duguid explained how the data is used.

Today, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Marie-Claude Bibeau, announced an investment of up to $45.3 million to enhance efforts to prevent African swine fever from entering Canada and prepare for a potential outbreak. 

ASF is a fatal swine disease that spreads through both direct and indirect contact with infected pigs, pork, and pork by-products. 

Bibeau said they'll need a collaborative approach to protect Canada’s pork industry and prevent its spread.

As harvest is underway, long days are set for farmers who will be looking to get their crops into the bin quickly, while racing machinery across their fields.

Fatigue can be a problem during those long days, with that leading to farmers making mistakes. In the case of power lines, those can be deadly.

That's why SaskPower is bringing their Look Up and Live program this harvest, to remind farmers to be aware of power lines and their height.

SaskPower Spokesperson Scott McGregor explains what to do should some machinery contact a line.

The Manitoba government is investing an additional $350,000 to help prevent the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) through year-round monitoring and enhanced sampling efforts during the upcoming big game hunting seasons.

Dry, hot conditions are coming in at the perfect time for farmers, who are hoping desiccation is quick so they'll have more time for harvest.

For those on the western side of the province that's already come, while the eastern regions are hoping to get past the moist soils that came in during the spring.

That's led to a very uneven harvest percentage in the latest Saskatchewan crop report, with numbers varying wildly.

Provincial Crop Specialist Matthew Struthers details the disparity that's been seen in those numbers.

On Friday, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Marie-Claude Bibeau, announced an investment of up to $45.3 million to enhance efforts to prevent African swine fever (ASF) from entering Canada and prepare for a potential outbreak.

“We must continue to work as a team - federal, provincial and territorial governments together with industry, to prevent African swine fever from entering the country. Strengthening the measures already in place is essential to protecting the hog sector and the vitality of rural communities,” said Bibeau.

Via Government of Saskatchewan

19 per cent of the crop is now combined in the west central region, ahead of the five-year average (2017-2021) of 13 per cent. Areas that saw semi-regular rains are reporting yields above or closer to average, whereas areas that missed those rains are reporting very poor yields. Many producers are predicting a quick harvest if the weather remains hot and dry. A large, substantial rain will be needed across the region after the completion of harvest.

Researchers at the University of Manitoba are looking at factors that influence the quality of the protein in Manitoba crops.

Dr. Jim House is a professor in the Department of Food and Human Nutritional Sciences.

Harvest has begun rather lopsidedly in different regions of the province, with the dryer southwest region being nearly halfway down while some in the east are just starting up.

That's also brought a varying response from local insects, which tend to be very sensitive to the climate during a harvest, which can impact crops.

The difference this year is especially stark in Saskatchewan, with the western side of the province seeing large numbers of grasshoppers while the east is spared.