World Food Prize laureates say better methods are needed for communicating science to the general public
Reading Time: 4 minutes The greatest challenge feeding the world’s growing population is not about the science needed to boost production, it is convincing the public to accept it, scientists receiving the 2013 World Food Prize said here last week. The three scientists honoured as pioneers of genetically modified crops spent much of their time defending the two-decades-old technology […] Read moreConsumer acceptance remains elusive for biotechnology sector
Biotechnology — whose voice should be heard?
Biotech pioneers won this year’s World Food Prize, but the ‘Frankenfood’ debate still rages on in North America
Reading Time: 3 minutes It was hard not to smile when one of our African colleagues on a CropLife International tour at the World Food Prize event in Des Moines, Iowa asked a presenter to address rumours that clothes made from genetically modified (GM) crops will make a man bald and impotent. After all, after nearly 20 years of […] Read moreIowa farmers look to cover crops to reduce nutrient losses
Reading Time: 2 minutes Harvest is in full swing on Gordon Wassenaar’s farm — and so is seeding. Directly behind the combine collecting this year’s soybean crop on this farm located about an hour east of Des Moines is a seeder sowing fall rye as a cover crop. The rye won’t be harvested. It will be sprayed out in […] Read more
Genetically modified crop pioneers honoured with World Food Prize
Reading Time: 4 minutes As he pulled away from the airport, our driver tells us he’s been warned to keep an eye out for the protesters that gathered the day before to picket against the recipients of this year’s World Food Prize. “And I’m thinking, like, how could anybody protest food?” said Larry, the affable pastor’s son who was […] Read more
Reports of the independents’ death were greatly exaggerated
Reading Time: 3 minutes The headlines of late have been all about consolidation, mergers and acquisitions and about the global players like Agrium and Glencore moving in on Prairie agriculture. But there’s been a quiet evolution taking place beneath the radar that has turned into a competitive force on the Prairie farm supply scene. The same day earlier this […] Read more
My beef with fabricated beef
Reading Time: 2 minutes I’m a bit confused by all the saving-the-planet hullabaloo over that $330,000 hamburger manufactured in the laboratory. It was animal protein all right, fried in butter no less, not one of those concoctions of soy, brown rice, black beans or quinoa the vegetarians turn to for their burger fix. My daughter and I quite innocently […] Read more
Politics and wheat varieties have a long history on the Prairies
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s unlikely the Canadian Grain Commission’s decision to remove Garnet wheat from the Canada Western Red Spring wheat class as of Aug. 1 will be met with more than a ho-hum response from farmers who long ago abandoned it in favour of better genetics. The variety’s historical significance is more because of its role in […] Read more
Smallholder farmers —a powerful engine for growth
A UN organization’s approach is about making small farms commercial and attractive enough that young people are drawn back to the land
Reading Time: 3 minutes Researchers have discovered an environmentally sustainable instrument that could increase world food production by 30 per cent, but they’ve been having a tough time getting it commercialized. Is it a plant with a novel trait, or a new herbicide perhaps, bogged down by excessive regulations or those silly activists? Or maybe it’s a new type […] Read moreNew alliance to focus wheat research in Saskatoon
The federal government has joined with the Saskatchewan government and University of Saskatchewan to form a new Canadian Wheat Alliance, dedicated to improving yields and profitability of wheat. “The Canadian Wheat Alliance will improve the quality of Canadian wheat, and enhance Canada’s competitive position in the growing world market,” said federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz […] Read more
Clubroot found in Manitoba soils
Testing has confirmed levels of clubroot capable of producing disease in two soil samples collected from Manitoba canola fields last year, provincial officials say. "It is significant in that we can no longer consider ourselves free of clubroot in Manitoba," said Holly Derksen, a plant pathologist with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives’ soils and […] Read more