Reading Time: 2 minutes New online resources will help Canadian teachers educate students in grades 10 and 11 about what it takes to grow the food they eat.
Ag resources for teachers released
Hepworth honoured for agricultural achievements
The London, Ont. resident started as a Sask. farmer and vet before moving to politics, then research
Reading Time: < 1 minute Lorne Hepworth, former Saskatchewan agriculture minister and current chair of the Agriculture Research Institute of Ontario, has been named a member of the Order of Canada.
CropLife not driving CFIA policy, agency says
NFU calls for CFIA head's ouster over 'indication of improper collaboration'
Reading Time: 3 minutes The National Farmers Union and a clutch of other organizations have asked Canada’s federal ag minister to replace the president of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, citing questions about the provenance of regulatory proposals on gene-edited seed. CFIA officials, however, reject the NFU’s allegation that the metadata attached to the proposal document in question may […] Read more
CropLife Canada on pesticide labels
Reading Time: 2 minutes In our February 1 issue of Country Guide, Gerald Pilger suggested a system under which pesticides would be sold with a “prescription” for their specific use, similar to the system when buying medications from a pharmacy. CropLife Canada asked for space to outline its position on pesticide labelling. CropLife Canada represents the Canadian manufacturers, developers […] Read more
Low-clearance spraying
Startup company is beginning with weed mapping by drones, but sees a future for spraying by swarms of mini crop dusters
Reading Time: 4 minutes A well-funded Regina-based robotics and artificial intelligence firm sees a future in spraying with drones, potentially cutting herbicide use by up to 95 per cent. In the meantime, it’s working on a system of conventional spraying using information gathered by a drone survey. Dan McCann, founder and CEO of Precision AI, claims conventional spraying results […] Read more
Ag chem sector defends 2,4-D over cancer classification
Reading Time: 4 minutes North America’s crop herbicide sector is defending one of its classics against a new classification from the World Health Organization’s cancer research agency. The WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) on Monday released its classification of “possibly carcinogenic to humans” for 2,4-D herbicide, along with new classifications for now-defunct insecticides DDT and lindane. […] Read more
Making the case in the neonic debate
Can agriculture afford to lose to the non-science of neonic opponents? The costs would be even higher than you probably think
Reading Time: 13 minutes Here in early 2015, it’s becoming a recognized pattern in agriculture: another day, another article, another proclamation and another call for action, all revolving around farmers’ use of neonicotinoid seed treatments and the alleged damage this does to bees and bee colonies. To say there is an abundance of information on this topic is one […] Read more
In search of a good label
On virtually every pesticide container, it’s written in big, bold letters, “Read the label and booklet before using.” My guess is almost no one complies, and with good reason
Reading Time: 4 minutes It can be a ridiculous request. Labels have become virtual novels. The label for the most widely used pesticide in Canada, glyphosate, can be over 100 pages long. If you tank mix glyphosate with another herbicide such as Pardner, add another 59 pages to your bedtime reading. Has anyone ever taken the time to read […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
