Reading Time: 7 minutes It might not look like it at first glance, but this nondescript boardroom in a steel building beside a busy highway in southern Manitoba is the heart of the western Canadian corn pipeline. The site near Carman is home to Monsanto’s major corn expansion project, announced just over two years ago with much fanfare and […] Read more
The Corn Belt moves north
Monsanto has plans to produce varieties that can be grown on half the acres in Western Canada
The farm voice in Paris
Maybe we really can have an effective voice in global climate-change talks, even if we can’t agree whether climate change is real
Reading Time: 5 minutes Climate change is a divisive topic. People either believe man-based climate change is real and that action must be taken immediately to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, or they reject the premise that mankind is responsible for climate change and they argue passionately that action is not only not warranted or needed, but that it also […] Read more
Corn crops point their compass north
What do climate change and western corn share? “Plenty,” says Jeff Rubin
Reading Time: 5 minutes Jeff Rubin is former chief economist for CIBC World Markets, now a bestselling author, and he believes a warmer climate will result in a longer growing season and more heat units on the Canadian Prairies. This, he suggests, could turn the region into the new North American Corn Belt as production inevitably creeps northward. “The […] Read more
Livestock seen threatened as biting insects press north
Reading Time: 2 minutes Bluetongue’s most recent appearance in the Canadian cattle herd may be a taste of what’s to come as insect species expand northward, a new study warns. Anna Zuliani, previously a graduate student in veterinary medicine at the University of Calgary (UCVM), recently published a paper on how geographical distribution of biting midges relates to the […] Read more
Is momentum being lost for sustainable agriculture?
Farmers have made great strides toward sustainability, but there are fears that we’re starting to slip back
Reading Time: 5 minutes Have we become more sustainable?” asks Martin Entz, professor of natural systems agriculture at the University of Manitoba. “In some ways we’ve moved forward a long way, but there’s also some things we’ve moved backwards on.” Farmers have scored big wins in erosion control, the rate of organic matter loss, water use efficiency, weed management, […] Read more
Severe ‘food shocks’ seen more likely due to extreme weather
Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — Extreme weather such as intense storms, droughts and heatwaves will cause more frequent and severe food shortages as the global climate and food supply systems change, British and U.S. experts warned Friday. The pressure on the world’s food supplies is so great, and the increase in extreme weather events so rapid, […] Read more
Study of bumblebee decline points to climate ‘vise’
Reading Time: 4 minutes A study of the shrinking range of bumblebee habitat suggests farmers relying on those species to pollinate crops may soon have to look elsewhere, barring a reversal of climate change — or, perhaps, an “assisted migration.” An international study of specimens from 31 species of bumblebees in North America and 36 such species in Europe, as […] Read more
Canada meets climate change
It’s time to stop unscientific denials, and to get on with the job of preparing our farms for the real changes that are coming
Reading Time: 6 minutes How will climate change affect Prairie agriculture in the future? This was the question the Alberta Institute of Agrologists presented to a trio of University of Manitoba (U of M) researchers last year, including Brian Amiro, a soil scientist specializing in agricultural meteorology and climatology; Christine Rawluk, research development co-ordinator with the National Centre for […] Read more
Australia’s temperatures found fastest-rising worldwide
Reading Time: 2 minutes Sydney | Reuters –– Australia faces a rise in temperature of potentially more than 5 C by the end of the century, outpacing global warming worldwide, the country’s national science agency said Tuesday. In its most comprehensive analysis yet of the impacts of climate change, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) painted a […] Read more
Wheat models show climate change pressuring yields
Reading Time: 2 minutes A combination of multiple computer models of weather’s impact on wheat warns of a six per cent dent in world wheat production for every degree Celsius in temperature increase. Scientists have been trying for 20 years to estimate effects of temperature increase and climate change on wheat production, which accounts for 20 per cent of […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
