Editors’ Picks: Organics yield no nutritive gain in study

Reading Time: 3 minutes An independent British review of organic foods compared to conventionally-grown foods has found “no important differences” in the nutritive content, or in any additional health benefits, for organics. The “data mining” study, carried out by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and commissioned by the British government’s Food Standards Agency […] Read more

Feds to seek, fund rural broadband service providers

Reading Time: 3 minutes The federal government plans to start accepting applications this summer from private-sector firms interested in expanding rural Canada’s broadband access. Speaking Thursday at Adstock, Que., about 30 km east of Thetford Mines, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the government has wrapped up a “comprehensive nationwide survey of broadband access” to find the regions with “the […] Read more


Feds to seek, fund rural broadband service providers

Reading Time: 3 minutes The federal government plans to start accepting applications this summer from private-sector firms interested in expanding rural Canada’s broadband access. Speaking Thursday at Adstock, Que., about 30 km east of Thetford Mines, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the government has wrapped up a "comprehensive nationwide survey of broadband access" to find the regions with "the […] Read more

Editors’ Picks: Lower “food miles” may not be greener

Reading Time: 2 minutes The notion that the food traveling the shorter distance from gate to plate is the most environmentally friendly is being challenged in a new British study and in a Canadian policy paper. Cranfield University, based in Bedfordshire in the east of England, recently released a new comparative life-cycle assessment of food commodities, a £161,000, two-year […] Read more


Relaxed rules urged for food health claims

Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadians are missing out on information about the relationship between diet and health as “rigid” advertising standards prevent food companies from claiming even “potential” health benefits for many products. That’s the basis of the argument in a new research report from the Fraser Institute, in which Canadian and U.S. rules are compared to see if […] Read more

Crops price index drops for May: StatsCan

Reading Time: 2 minutes Prices farmers received for their commodities fell 4.8 per cent in May compared with May a year earlier, as the crops index fell, offsetting an increase in the total livestock and animal products index, Statistics Canada reported. The prices producers received for crops in May were 14.4 per cent lower compared with May 2008, the […] Read more


Canada names new rep to UN’s FAO

Reading Time: < 1 minute Canada’s foreign affairs department has named its current chief political-economic officer as its new representative to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). James Fox, who had also served as the department’s assistant deputy minister for Europe, the Middle East and Maghreb since last August, now also becomes Canada’s ambassador to Italy and its […] Read more

Best Comments of the Week: July 17

Reading Time: < 1 minute We welcome your comments on any Daily News articles you see here. Every Friday, when applicable, we’ll post the best reader comments of the week. If you’d like to submit comment on any news item you see on this site, click on “Comment on this article” at right. If you’d like your comment to be […] Read more


FCC boosts “4-H 4-Ever” funding

Reading Time: < 1 minute Farm Credit Canada has renewed and raised its cash support of the Canadian 4-H Council’s “4-H 4-Ever” promotional program. The federal farm and agribusiness lending agency has pledged $250,000 to the program for each of the next four years, up from its total commitment of $600,000 when it helped launch the program in October 2006. […] Read more

Ag, resources enrolments up at universities: StatsCan

Reading Time: 2 minutes Enrolment in Canadian universities’ ag and natural resources programs, especially by women, rose for 2007-08 at a rate well above universities’ overall average, compared to the previous year. Which arguably isn’t saying much, as enrolment in university programs overall rose just 0.6 per cent in that time — a number Statistics Canada describes as a […] Read more