The highway southwest of Addis Ababa to Wolayto-Soddo is wide and smooth, but there is no such thing in Ethiopia as setting the cruise control and just cruising, as one would expect to do on the wide open Canadian Prairies. With nearly 80 million people, Ethiopia is densely populated and most of its people live […] Read more
In Ethiopia: Too many people, too little land and a changing climate
In Ethiopia: First impressions of a far-off land
The sun was just peeking above the horizon as the Boeing 777 banked south just over Cairo, Egypt and headed for Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital that serves as the hub for all of Africa. We’d been travelling ahead in time, losing a night as we left Washington, D.C. at around 11 a.m. on Saturday, […] Read more
Feeding The World — But Doing It Sustainably
Reading Time: 3 minutes When you have nearly 300 agricultural journalists representing 31 countries gathered together for a conference, it s only fitting that discussion would turn to the feed the world debate. While it s arguably one of the biggest issues facing global agriculture today, the challenge put to participants in the recent International Federation of Agricultural Journalists […] Read more
Ugly Perennials Getting Admiring Looks
Reading Time: 3 minutes In a back corner of the Ian N. Morrison Research Farm there is a nursery of butt-ugly plants with spindly stems, tiny seeds, and weedy characteristics. But they might just be the salvation of grain farming if the impact of climate change falls hard on the Canadian Prairies. The plots contain intermediate wheatgrass, wild sunflowers, […] Read more
Video: CWB directors on road ahead of plebiscite deadline
Farmer-elected directors of the Canadian Wheat Board held a series of meetings across the Prairies earlier this month to discuss the implications of the federal government’s plans to end the board’s single desk. Manitoba director Bill Toews told the more than 300 farmers attending the meetings at Oak Bluff, Man., that Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz’s […] Read more
Ugly perennials getting admiring looks
In a back corner of the Ian N. Morrison Research Farm here is a nursery of what most farmers would consider butt-ugly plants with spindly stems, tiny seeds, and weedy characteristics. But they might just be the salvation of grain farming if the impact of climate change falls hard on the Canadian Prairies. The plots […] Read more
Farmers And The Climate Change Conundrum
Reading Time: 3 minutes With the crop insurance deadline now past, farmers and their crop insurance agents across much of the Prairies are pulling on their galoshes to assess the damages from yet another spring with too much water. Cattle producers are worrying about winter feed supplies as they watch floodwaters inundate their hay fields. We are told this […] Read more
The Role Of Livestock In Renewing The Earth
Reading Time: 2 minutes Henry Janzen, a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Lethbridge research station, is a master at disconcertion – the art of needling those with entrenched views without making them prickly. At the invitation of the National Centre for Livestock and the Environment in Winnipeg, Janzen recently took his audience through an hour-long discussion of […] Read more
Western Man. evacuation order creates confusion
Mark Emilson, a cattle producer from Vogar, Man., said producers in his area have been told they must move hundreds of cattle to higher ground as floodwaters continue to swell Lake Manitoba, but people don’t know where to go. Provincial officials warned producers at a meeting Monday night that up to 100,000 head of cattle […] Read more
Calling All Wannabe Wheat Breeders
Reading Time: 3 minutes If you’ve ever had a hankering to develop your own wheat variety, the University of Manitoba and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada have a deal for you. Researchers have created a participatory wheat-breeding program that allows farmers to take early crosses and then make the genetic selections on their farms, based on their management practices and […] Read more
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