This new guide is all about proportion rather portion of specific foods, said Health Canada officials Tuesday in Ottawa.

It takes a modern approach to communicating dietary guidance to meet the broad needs of all Canadians, federal Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor said during a press conference.

“It puts more focus on what, when and how we eat,” she said. “It gives clear, concise advice that everyone can easily apply to their daily lives.”

The key takeaway message of the new guide, as widely expected, is to eat more plant-based foods, and less meat and dairy.

The remaining ‘three groups’ are now fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and proteins. The protein group will include both dairy and meat alongside foods such as tofu and pulses.

The online guide includes a series of ‘dietary guidelines’ with the key one being that “vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and protein foods should be consumed regularly,” and “among protein foods, consume plant-based more often.”

Protein foods include legumes, nuts, seeds, tofu, fortified soy beverage, fish, shellfish, eggs, poultry, lean red meat including wild game, lower fat milk, lower fat yogurts, lower fat kefir, and cheeses lower in fat and sodium.

The guidelines also say “(F)oods that contain mostly unsaturated fat should replace foods that contain mostly saturated fat,” and that “(W)ater should be the beverage of choice.”

Other sections advise not consuming processed or prepared foods, and to choose foods with unsaturated fat over those containing saturated fat.

The new guide also emphasizes cooking at home more often, the importance of food skills and knowing how to grocery shop and cook, and to use food labels to make informed choices. It warns Canadians not to be influenced by food marketing that undermines healthy eating.

The new guide is now fully accessible online and mobile friendly. Previous food guides were “static documents,” Petitpas Taylor said, noting the last revision in 2007 predates the widespread use of smartphones.

“Technology has transformed our world. And it has also transformed our food guide, “she said. “That’s why this edition was been updated not only with the latest in nutritional science, but also the latest technological changes as well.”

“This new food guide is really an extensive set of resources that every Canadian from coast to coast to coast has access to online.”

More information about the new Canada Food Guide can be found online.

— Lorraine Stevenson is a reporter for the Manitoba Co-operator at Carman, Man. Watch for more Canada Food Guide coverage in upcoming issues of the Co-operator.

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Lisa Dyck, owner of the Cornell Creme ice cream brand, began producing a line of hand-crafted ice cream in 2013, using milk from the family dairy farm northeast of Winnipeg between Beausejour and Anola.

Flavours with mouth-watering names such as Velvety Chocolate Truffle and Lemon Meringue and others were almost an overnight success and Cornell Creme’s full-butter fat ice cream was soon selling at premium prices in stores and restaurants across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario.

Their demise has nothing to do with product demand, Dyck said Tuesday after announcing her plans on social media to pull the plug.

“It’s certainly not for lack of selling product or lack of support from our customers. That’s been amazing.

“It’s production issues.”

Her troubles have been mounting as unexpected costs skyrocketed, she said.

The operation really took a hit as global supplies for natural vanilla tightened, she said. Their product used only natural vanilla but the price went from $50 up to $500/lb. after cyclones destroyed crops in Madagascar last year, where about 85 per cent of the world’s vanilla is produced.

She could have changed her recipe, as other processors using natural vanilla have done, but she was adamant that she would not, she said.

“A lot of companies do things differently. I just wasn’t willing to do it. I tried to ride the storm of the price but it’s just not coming down.”

Other costs have mounted since switching production over from the University of Manitoba’s dairy pilot plant to the federally inspected Notre Dame Creamery in January 2016 and moving to a full distribution model for the product.

A big challenge all through was doing almost all of the work herself, Dyck said.

“It was kind of the perfect storm of things happening to us,” she said.

“I just got burnt out. I just couldn’t continue.”

Closing down Cornell Creme is a painful decision and she’s been overwhelmed by the outpouring of customer support since announcing it.

In fact, it was this intensely close relationship with customers that kept her going, even probably past the point when she should have, she said.

“All those relationships we made, we made person to person. We’ve done a really good job of branding ourselves.

“It’s just sad,” she continued. “My heart is with my customers and my stores right now.”

Cornell Creme began after Dyck made a few batches of homemade ice cream with a kitchen-table ice cream maker her family gave her as a gift. The taste of the ice cream so impressed friends and family they urged her to try commercializing it.

The provincial dairy sector applauded the launch of the made-in-Manitoba ice cream company, noting it set a great example of product innovation for the industry.

The business website emphasized the Dycks’ care of their 120-cow herd, explaining the barn’s loose-housing and other production practices for herd health and well-being, such as the animals’ mattresses, ‘hoovicures’ they received twice yearly, and even posting the animals’ registered names with Holstein Canada.

Cornell Creme never became a large-scale production company in its six years of operation, and continued to use only milk from the Dycks’ own herd.

Last year the company produced over 20,000 litres of ice cream, “which is quite small for a processor,” she added.

The difficulties that led to shutting down point to how tough niche-market food processing is, and the impact unexpected spikes in costs of production can have, she said.

“You need deep pockets to do this. I think at this point it will take investors and someone willing to buy the label.”

— Lorraine Stevenson is a reporter for the Manitoba Co-operator at Carman, Man.

The post Eastern Manitoba ice cream maker closes shop appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The program, an initiative of the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association, will educate farmers, farm workers, and farm families about the dangers of grain handling and storage.

“The Alberta Wheat Commission is excited to be part of this grain safety initiative and it supports our belief that education is the most effective way to promote farm safety,” said Alberta Wheat chair Kevin Auch. “This is a great program and our commitment ensures growers have access to tools that can help shape a safe farming operation.”

The $120,000 contribution will help the Grain Safety Program launch and operate. The program includes a mobile demonstration unit, a trade show display, youth tabletop displays, and an interactive grain safety website. It will start with one mobile unit and trade show display, focused on Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.

“APG’s support of the Grain Safety Program is about reducing injuries and deaths on Alberta farms,” said Alberta Pulse Growers chair Allison Ammeter, who farms near Sylvan Lake. “Producers and their families take steps to prevent injuries on their farms every day, and we want them to have the best information to stay safe around grain.”

The mobile unit will also help train first responders who are faced with a grain entrapment emergency.

There is a new emphasis on this area due to the high numbers of entrapments occurring as grain storage capacity expands, said Glen Blahey, a safety and health specialist at the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association.

From 2003 to 2012 there were 34 confirmed deaths. Last year alone there were seven, including four children. In Alberta, three children in the same family died after becoming entrapped in a truckload of canola.

Last year may have been “a bit of an anomaly” but the number of entrapments is far too high, and is on the rise, Blahey said.

“We see them progressively increasing,” he said.

Farmers or bystanders often fail to recognize the dangers, including realizing that the surface of grain is just like quicksand. There have been multiple incidents when someone has attempted to stand on or cross a grain surface and been sucked down as it’s being drawn out of the storage from below, Blahey said.

Entrapments also occur if someone attempts to walk across the surface of grain where a void exists beneath. This occurred in Manitoba a few years ago, when a farmer who was unloading grain entered the bin from the top to break a crust over the surface where the grain bridged. He broke through and was immediately enveloped from the grain that came down from the sides on top of him.

Death by grain entrapment also occurs if someone enters a storage facility and solidified grain on the walls collapses.

The first responders’ training is also very important because in rural situations many of these people are volunteers and the extrication procedures are difficult, technically challenging and dangerous in their own right, despite the precautions. Even as these incidents are on the uptick, the specialized training they need can remain a lower priority because they don’t happen all that frequently, said Blahey.

The first phase of the Grain Safety Program will run for three years and cost $400,000, with more than $300,000 raised so far. A second phase expanding the program into more communities would require another $385,000 in funding.

Other donations and sponsorship have come from grower associations, companies, event organizers and media sponsors across the country.

With material from CASA release

The post Alberta farm groups support grain safety initiative appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

In a letter to Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay, the groups state they also want variety registration removed for all GM alfalfa until a full economic impact assessment is conducted.

They are also calling for protocols for testing all imports of alfalfa seed grown in the U.S.

“These measures would stop the sale of GM alfalfa seed in Canada and prevent the inadvertent importation of GM alfalfa via contaminated seed from the U.S. where it has already been introduced,” the Canadian Organic Trade Association said in a press release.

Other groups asking Ottawa to act include Forage Seed Canada, Peace Region Forage Seed Association, L’Union des producteurs agricoles (Quebec’s powerful farm group), and a number of organic farm associations, including Organic Alberta.

• Read more: ‘Coexistence plan’ for GM alfalfa released

Forage Seed Canada said Canada exports $280 million worth of forage seed annually, plus another $100 million worth of alfalfa and timothy hay meal and pellets. Most Canadian export markets have zero-tolerance policies for GM forage seed and hay and test on a parts-per-million basis, it said.

“The introduction of GM alfalfa could mean we lose some valuable export markets,” said Peace Country producer Heather Kerschbaumer, the group’s president. “The risks and costs are just too high for our industry.”

In late March, Forage Genetics International said it would sell a limited amount of HarvXtra alfalfa in Eastern Canada for planting this spring. HarvXtra alfalfa has Monsanto’s glyphosate-tolerant Roundup Ready genetics plus a trait for lower levels of lignin, a structural component of alfalfa plants that holds them upright but makes them less digestible for dairy and beef cattle.

The farm groups’ letter states that “even this limited release will lead to a measure of contamination and begin a spiral of uncertainty for eastern and western farmers and their customers.”

“Any commercial release of GM alfalfa seeds will result in unavoidable contamination, with a range of devastating impacts on a wide range of farmers, commodity sectors and food production businesses in Canada, both conventional and organic,” it says.

“It’s imperative that the government takes urgent action to stop the commercial introduction of GM alfalfa, to prevent irreversible contamination,” stated Marcel Groleau, president of the Union of Agricultural Producers in Quebec, in the COTA release.

It is not overstating things to call this the single greatest threat Canada’s growing organic sector has ever faced, said Kate Storey, president of the Manitoba Organic Alliance. The Canadian Organic Standard prohibits the use of any GM seeds and organic growers fear they will be unable to guarantee their production is GM free, she said.

“This puts the organic standard at risk,” Storey said. “If I were a conspiracy theorist, which I’m not, I would say someone has put together a pretty good plan to get rid of organics.”

The farm groups’ letter to MacAulay also says they have no confidence in the coexistence plans developed by the Canadian Seed Trade Association.

“The plans rely on farmers, including those who want to avoid contamination, to voluntarily implement unrealistic and/or ineffective ‘Best Management Practices’ at their own cost,” the letter states.

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Manitoba Soil Sciences Society members have been using Newdale Clay Loam to make a series of pendants/keychains, bracelets, earrings and rings since Manitoba proclaimed it the provincial soil in 2010. MSSS members Marla Riekman and John Heard explain how the idea originated, how the jewelry is made, and the intent behind the ongoing initiative.

All proceeds from sales — $20 per item — support the ongoing work of the Manitoba Soil Sciences Society.

For more information contact msss@umanitoba.ca.

Video editing by Greg Berg.

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Last fall, Evans took delivery of a custom-built U.K.-manufactured Robocrop InRow Weeder, which uses cutting-edge video image analysis to identify and target weeds, leaving the crop behind.

After seeing what the cultivator could do to his wild oats, thistle and quackgrass this spring, the south-central Manitoba farmer is convinced he’s found a solution to his weed problems. And visitors are equally impressed.

“I’ve had a few tours to the farm this summer,” said Evans. Those watching the 22-foot cultivator yank out weeds between his 6-1/2-inch row field crops are calling this “a complete game changer for the organic industry.”

“Everyone is pretty excited about it,” he said during a recent organic farming systems tour.

“I think it’s going to change organics in Western Canada. There’s good potential in organic, but the weed competition always seems to take that potential out.”

The 38-year-old, who is also an electrician, has farmed 500 acres organically since switching out of a much larger conventional farm operation in 2004 when his health was affected by chemicals.

Nervous at first

Any new and relatively effective mechanical means to control weeds is bound to be welcomed by organic farmers, whose weed problems can quickly get out of hand despite using careful rotations, use of cover crops, or increased seeding rates.

Evans said what prompted him to seek alternatives was a combination of his own mounting frustration with narrow windows to harrow, which he’s largely relied on for weed control, plus a question raised at last year’s organic field tour: ‘Isn’t there another way to control weeds after seeding?’

“I started searching on the Internet and stumbled across this watching YouTube videos,” he said. A few conversations with U.K manufacturer Garford and a long look at his own fields’ weed patterns convinced him this approach might work.

“Harrowing needs to be done within a matter of days and I wasn’t getting the timing perfect,” he said.

He admits being nervous on the first day out with the Robocrop, wondering just how precise it would be.

“I think it took about three hours to make the first outside round… I was just constantly checking, and you have to get the cameras set up so they follow the rows properly,” he said.

But any fears of ripping out his newly planted field were quickly dispelled.

How it works

The cultivator is guided by two video cameras that use colour and pattern recognition software to identify the weeds and control the weeding rotor that takes them out.

It is extremely precise, says Evans, adding that the company’s own claim is it is accurate to within three-eighths of an inch (10 millimetres).

“This is more accurate than RTK GPS which is only accurate to one inch,” he said.

He has used it on crops of peas, mustard, beans, wheat, barley and flax, with the machine covering between 10 and 12 acres an hour.

Evans said he’s impressed with its ability to consistently cut down weeds, regardless of what height they’ve reached, while leaving the crop behind.

“I’m very happy with the way it’s performing and the job it’s doing.”

He has set up test plots to determine what his new weed control measure will do for yields. But he’s already convinced the machine is worth its $80,000 price tag.

“A yield increase of a bushel an acre will justify the cost,” he said.

The cultivator was purchased from Willsie Equipment Sales in Ontario.

The post The British are coming! And taking precision tillage to a new level appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“I was spraying a wild oat herbicide on a field, and I got drift poisoning,” said the Edberg-area farmer and owner of Little Red Hen Mills.

“For three days, I was sick as a dog. That kind of changed my mind. I thought, if that’s doing that to me, why am I using it?”

That incident triggered the start of a nearly 30-year career in organic farming for Snider, who grows certified organic wheat, barley, oats, and rye for milling.

“Where we started and where we are today is an incredible journey,” said Snider.

And it hasn’t been an easy road to travel.

“When we got into organics, it was 10 years before the market was actually profitable,” said Snider.

“There were 12 of us, and we met in a basement in Vauxhall. We did it on principle. We didn’t do it for monetary gain.”

Since then, interest in organics has exploded — at least for consumers, said Becky Lipton, executive director of Organic Alberta.

“In Canada, we see 58 per cent of all consumers buy organic on a weekly basis. It shows the strong demand for organic products,” said Lipton, adding demand for organics is actually higher in Alberta than other regions in Canada.

“In Alberta, we have 13 per cent of the total share of organic sales in Canada, but we only have 11 per cent of the population.”

The growing success of the organics market is driven by the consumer, said Snider.

“The first rule of business is the customer’s always right,” he said. “What we’re providing is a product that consumers asked for and are willing to pay a premium for. It’s a specialized product for a niche market, and it has demand.”

• More from the Alberta Farmer: The money’s good. But is organic for you?

Can’t keep up

But supply just hasn’t been able to keep up with demand, said Lipton.

“We’ve had a lot of our companies, both in Canada and the United States, come to us and say, ‘We’re concerned that we’re not going to be able to continue to grow in order to meet this demand,’” she said.

In 2013, Alberta had over 350 organic operations, including producers and processors. And that number has risen by more than 10 per cent annually since then, she said.

But that’s not enough, especially on the primary production side.

“There is such huge demand, and the demand is growing so fast,” she said. “If we’re not able to supply enough food ingredients in order for companies to be able to expand, we will potentially lose part of our market share.”

Ottawa recently pledged $1.2 million for a Prairie-wide project aimed at strengthening the organic sector, with organic food processors and others chipping in another $1 million.

That money for the Prairie Organic Grain Initiative, which will be housed at Organic Alberta, will “increase quality and quantity of organic production, as well as profitability” for all of the Prairie provinces, said Lipton.

“What we’re trying to do through this program is show the world that we can supply amazing grains and food ingredients on the Canadian Prairies and that we’re able to scale up to meet the demand,” she said. “As the market continues to grow, we want to be the go-to place to get your highest-quality organic grains.”

Dispelling myths

Ottawa’s funding pledge is an important step forward for the entire organics industry, said Snider.

“It’s exciting to see that the organic industry is growing and to get recognition from the federal government at that level.”

The funding is divided into three streams — one to attract new growers; one to improve quality and quantity of existing organic production; and one for market development.

A key part of attracting new growers will be dispelling the myths surrounding organic production, said Lipton.

“There’s this perception that it might be unmanageable or that it’s too labour intensive or that you may lose money if you go into organics. I would say all three of those things are misconceptions.”

But there is a learning curve, said Snider.

“There’s always a challenge with information transfer and training and getting the proper connection to someone who knows what they’re talking about,” he said.

“That’s where I think this grant is key to trying to grow the industry and provide funding for research and training new producers.”

So is getting the word out “that there is money to be made in organics and that we have the resources to be able to support them through the process,” said Lipton.

It’s a message that will be listened to by many young farmers because they see a business opportunity, predicted Manitoba organic producer Darcy Hickson.

“I think that’s where we’re going to see the greatest push for organic farm production,” he said. “Young producers are going back home to farm and the farm families aren’t saying, ‘Oh good, let’s turn the farm organic.’

“But they are saying, ‘Here’s a couple of fields to try this and implement some of the things you’ve learned.’

“They’re going to be the ones who are going to piece the organic puzzle together and show us all how to do it,” he said.

jennifer.blair@fbcpublishing.com
lorraine@fbcpublishing.com

The post Organic is booming — and the push is on to get more growers appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“From a business perspective, organic production does make sense,” said Becky Lipton. “If you’re looking on how to expand your operation, organics do provide a lot of opportunities on that end.”

While yields can be substantially lower — as much as 18 per cent less — premiums of 30 per cent or higher in recent years have more that offset that drop, a recent global study by Washington State University found.

So why aren’t more conventional producers making the switch to organics?

It’s a lot more work, says veteran Alberta organic farmer Steven Snider.

“There’s more tillage, there’s more field time, there’s more operations that way,” he said. “Your scouting becomes more critical, and your knowledge curve is different. You can’t resolve problems by picking up a can and reading a label. There’s other tools you have to use.”

• More from the Alberta Farmer: Organic is booming — and the push is on to get more growers

As well, you have to get past “myths and theories that aren’t necessarily practical in application,” he said.

“To sort out what works from what doesn’t is tough,” he said. “Every producing region is different, and some practices do work well and some don’t.”

Age is another factor.

“Organic production has a steep learning curve,” said Laura Telford, an organic specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development. “It’s a completely new way of thinking so it’s not really the best time of life to make a major change in your business model.”

But the work is “manageable,” said Lipton.

“If you’re willing to diversify and adapt and learn, the resources and the research are out there to be able to help producers through the transition,” she said, adding that the transition period is at most three years.

The new Prairie Organic Grain Initiative will help on that front, but there’s a lot of work to be done on educating growers on best practices in organic production, said Telford.

The goal in organic production isn’t to maximize yields, but rather optimize them, and right now “we’re not even close,” she said.

“There’s a long way that we could go towards providing education and transferring success stories to organic producers that can help them dramatically increase their yields and grain quality.”

When the premium for organic grain dramatically shrunk after the 2008-09 recession, hundreds of Prairie producers quit farming organically, Telford noted. To prevent a repeat of that, organic yields have to be higher, she said.

“If you can get a yield that is 75 per cent of conventional, I think that would really provide some buffering,” she said. “If those who left organic during the recession had got those yields, I think they’d still be in it today.”

Still, said Lipton, “organic production really is a great opportunity.”

“The barriers are not unbearable. These are things that can be tackled and managed.”

jennifer.blair@fbcpublishing.com
lorraine@fbcpublishing.com

The post The money’s good. But is organic for you? appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The declaration aims to “help reposition family farming at the centre of agricultural, environmental and social policies in the national agendas,” an FAO news release said.

The declaration aims to broaden discussion and co-operation at all levels to “increase awareness and understanding of the challenges faced by smallholders and help identify efficient ways to support family farmers.”

The FAO says family farming is the predominant form of agriculture in both developing and developed countries and has key socio-economic, environmental and cultural roles.

It preserves traditional food products while contributing to a balanced diet and safeguarding agro-biodiversity and sustainable use of natural resources, while boosting local economies and the well-being of communities.

Family farms also help to strengthen food security, and are key players in managing natural resources and protecting the environment, the FAO says.

Family farming’s contributions were highlighted during a dialogue in Brussels in mid-December when about 100 participants from 27 countries across Europe and Central Asia discussed the common challenges faced by the world’s farm families.

These include succession planning and enticing young people to farm, lack of market access, land, water and credit, as well as access to research and innovation, and training and education. The need to better integrate family farmers into the food chain also resonated strongly during the debates, the FAO release said.

That gathering is the beginning of a series of meetings in the upcoming months. Outcomes will be presented at the IYFF Global Dialogue in Rome later this year.

From the Manitoba Co-operator website: Pulse promoters see opportunity in ‘international year’

Several countries have formed national committees around the declaration, including a U.S. executive committee made up of organizations including the Alliance to End Hunger, American Farmland Trust, the Consumer Federation of America, the National Cooperative Business Association and U.S. National Farmers Union.

Other UN proclamations ahead include International Year of Soils in 2015 to raise global awareness about sustainable soil management and its essential ecosystem functions.

Pulses will capture global attention in 2016 with the UN General Assembly declaring that year International Year of Pulses. A series of national committees are being established around the world by CICILS/International Pulse Trade and Industries Confederation members to work with their governments, farmers, NGOs, retailers, food manufacturers, health and science organizations and UN bodies to mark 2016.

Laird green lentil has been selected as the 2013-14 Seed of the Year West, a program which recognizes publicly developed varieties that have made a significant contribution to the economy, agriculture, and the Canadian public.

The Laird green lentil was developed by Alfred E. Slinkard of the Crop Development Centre (CDC) at the University of Saskatchewan. Laird was the first lentil variety to be licensed in Canada. A number of pulse growers are still growing Laird today, 35 years after being released. All subsequent large green lentil varieties developed in Canada have Laird lentil in their ancestry.

Part of the western award is a $4,000 scholarship, awarded to a student enrolled in a western Canadian university and currently completing a master’s degree or PhD in plant breeding or genetics. Gurcharn Singh Brar was selected as this year’s winner. Brar is in his second year of graduate studies at University of Saskatchewan. He is researching wheat stripe rust in Western Canada.

The Seed of the Year award was presented to Slinkard at the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers annual meeting Jan. 13.

Sponsors of the program are Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Alberta Barley Commission, Canterra Seeds, Cargill, Canadian Seed Growers Association, FP Genetics, Viterra, Richardson International, SeCan, and Western Grains Research Foundation.

The post UN declares 2014 International Year of Family Farming appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Early January is time to plan, if not plant, and gardeners on the Prairies spend this time thumbing through The Prairie Garden, learning how to become a better gardener for the short growing season ahead.

The 2014 release of the digest-sized, softcover book, billed as Western Canada’s only gardening annual, marks its 75th year in print.

It’s a major milestone, given this is a non-profit publication, written by unpaid contributors and assembled by volunteers. Those volunteers make up a committee of about a dozen people with a wide range of horticultural expertise — and they’ve been at it literally decades too.

What keeps it all going is that gardeners’ habit of sharing what they know.

“Gardeners always seem to be willing to share information,” says Roger Brown, now retired from his job as superintendent of government grounds for the Province of Manitoba. “They’ll really go out of their way to share information. I really think that’s what’s kept it going.”

Name change

The Prairie Garden’s origin dates to 1937 when volunteers with what was then the Winnipeg Horticultural Society created The Winnipeg Flower Garden, which carried articles written by prominent horticulturalists and was included in the society’s annual report. It was so widely read, they dropped the “Winnipeg” part of the name in 1955, and gave it its present-day name two years later.

Some things have changed in 75 years — others stay the same.

Present-day editor Richard Denesiuk works with The Prairie Garden committee and its contributing writers. He designs the 180-page document on computer, but he’s heard about the days when handwritten submissions were mailed, and the book put together on living room floors using the old “cut and paste” method.

“And they used something called a typewriter,” he joked during the launch in Winnipeg of the 2014 edition.

Colour pictures began to appear in the 1960s. In the 1970s the committee began building content around an annual chosen theme. The practice of hiring a guest editor began in 1987.

What’s unchanged is the passion for putting out a great book. It still takes many volunteer hours, invested by those devoted to the original purpose of The Prairie Garden — to advance horticulture in Western Canada.

“The book,” as committee members often call it, caught on because there wasn’t anything like it. It’s remained popular because, despite the proliferation of glossy gardening magazines, few are focused singularly on the unique challenges of a western Canadian climate.

Retired provincial Department of Agriculture home economist Fran Wershler served as editor for a dozen years beginning in 1989 and has put in a long stint on the committee as well.

A few years ago they did ask if they should continue, she said. “It was at a point where we realized all these new gardening magazines were coming in, and lots of books being written too.”

But they haven’t focused to the extent The Prairie Garden has on the unique conditions of Western Canada.

“The reason it started was because it’s a specific kind of gardening here on the Prairies, and magazines coming out from other places don’t necessarily touch on it, or they aren’t geared to our gardeners here,” says Wershler.

“The object of those early articles was to look at what we do best on the Prairies, and how to make things work here.”

From the Manitoba Co-operator website: Gardens and green lunches shine a light on two rural schools

Diverse readers and writers

That remains the purpose of the book. What’s found among its 180 pages is a wide range of topics, written by a diverse group of writers and always with a Prairie perspective.

This year botanists, beekeepers, home gardeners, research scientists and others have once again contributed to a wide number of subjects, from gardening with children to dealing with downy mildew in impatiens. There are articles on rooftop gardens, bird farms, backyard bees, and growing micro-greens. There’s even one on gardening in winter — with houseplants.

They work hard to make the content easy to read and accessible to a wide audience, says Brown, who says the quality of the information also contributes to the book’s longevity.

“Over the years we’ve always tried to write the articles so that they’d be easy to understand by everybody and interesting to read,” he says. They try to balance that with providing technical information too. Plus, they try to keep new readers’ needs in mind.

“We’ve come back to basics a few times,” he says. “It’s come at meetings where we’ve said, ‘Maybe we need the article here and there on basic gardening, because there’s new readers and younger people who are buying it.’”

The book doesn’t rely on advertising, The Prairie Garden’s loyal subscribers pay the printing bill. Many have been with the publication for decades.

Around 7,000 copies were printed at the height of its popularity. Today around 4,000 are printed each year, and usually a few back issues remain for sale. A collection is now a timeless resource with content generally as solid and informative today as it was decades ago.

Trends look good for The Prairie Garden remaining a long keeper, with interest in gardening showing no signs of waning, and many young people just starting to get their fingernails dirty.

Already planning the 2015 edition, The Prairie Garden’s volunteers remain committed as ever to producing a good book, and along those lines they think like farmers; the best one yet is next year’s.

For more information, to purchase a 2014 edition or order back copies of previous editions please contact:

The Prairie Garden
Box 517 Winnipeg, Man. R3C 2J3
Phone: (204) 489-3466 Fax: (204) 489-1644
Email: sales@theprairiegarden.ca

You can read more about The Prairie Garden on their website.

The Prairie Garden is also made available at special quantity prices to horticultural societies and garden clubs. Contact your local horticultural group for more details.

The post Western Canada’s only gardening annual turns 75 appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.