Reading Time: 3 minutes Drought in Alberta is stretching into its fourth year and farmers and oil companies are planning for water restrictions that threaten production of wheat, beef and crude.
Farmers, oil drillers in parched Alberta brace for water shortage
Drought could cause double-digit declines in Alberta's wheat yields, data suggests
NASA to conduct first global water survey from space
Data would bolster weather and climate forecasts
Reading Time: 3 minutes Los Angeles | Reuters — A NASA-led international satellite mission was set for blastoff from southern California early on Thursday on a major Earth science project to conduct a comprehensive survey of the world’s oceans, lakes and rivers for the first time. Dubbed SWOT, short for Surface Water and Ocean Topography, the advanced radar satellite […] Read more
Wastewater regulation eased for Nova Scotia on-farm processing
Reading Time: < 1 minute Nova Scotia has introduced regulatory changes that allow on-farm processing operations to better manage wastewater on their smaller scale. The changes, which took effect May 11, come at the request of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture (NSFA) — which has said that owners of small farm-level processing facilities shouldn’t be treated the same as […] Read more
Iqaluit confirms ‘exceedingly high levels’ of fuel in water supply
Water not safe for cooking or drinking, city says
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters –– The Canadian city of Iqaluit said lab results confirmed that fuel had entered its water supply, officials announced Friday. Analysis of samples from one of the city’s water tanks found “exceedingly high levels of various fuel components,” Amy Elgersma, Iqaluit’s chief administrative officer, said, adding it was likely diesel or kerosene. Residents in […] Read more
India unveils new rice variety to reduce water use, labour
Reading Time: < 1 minute New Delhi | Reuters — India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched an array of new high-yielding crop varieties, including herbicide-tolerant rice that can be directly sown into the soil, cutting expenditure on water and farm workers. In India, the world’s biggest rice exporter, the conventional method of rice cultivation requires farmers to sow […] Read more
Haitians grow impatient for quake aid as hungry crowd gathers
Victims say they still lack food, shelter, clean water; some major hospitals damaged
Reading Time: 4 minutes Les Cayes, Haiti | Reuters — A hungry crowd gathered outside an airport in southern Haiti on Wednesday as people left homeless by an earthquake that killed some 2,000 people voiced anger that government aid was slow to arrive five days after the disaster, leaving many without food and water. Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who […] Read more
Prairies hit hard by drought
Parts of south-central, southwestern Manitoba among driest
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — A new nationwide drought map released by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Canadian Drought Monitor (CDM) shows just how dry conditions are in the Prairies, especially in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Areas in southern Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan have experienced at least six months of drought conditions, according to CDM’s drought assessment as of March […] Read more
The best place for crop inputs…
Is where there’s enough moisture to grow a good crop. SWAT technology says it can tell you where that is
Reading Time: 5 minutes The description of Cory Willness’s canola field near Naicam, Sask., this year could fit hundreds of others across the Prairies. It has variable topography with too much moisture in the depressions. The topsoil on the knoll is poorer because of erosion over the years. “We also had had some establishment problems along the top this […] Read more
Alberta Hutterite colony bottles water to diversify
Clear Lake Colony is challenging the definition of “value-added” with bottled water production
Reading Time: 8 minutes Across the West, Hutterite colonies are successfully diversifying into other business ventures, but this is a unique story at the very rural Clear Lake Hutterite Colony, an hour and a half southeast of Calgary. Clear Lake, it turns out, is home to a natural spring well — and to a group of very forward-thinking farmers, […] Read more
Guide Health: Fortified water – a good thing or not?
Many of these drinks may make sense for pro football players, but not the rest of us
Reading Time: 2 minutes Undoubtedly you will have seen the rows of fortified and flavoured water drinks in just about any store, as well as energy and sports water products too. According to the advertising, these beverages are just the thing you need for your health. But are they? Canada’s Food Guide has recently been updated, and it recommends […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
