Under fire in the wake of XL Foods’ massive beef recall, Canada’s food safety watchdogs have gone public with the list of "corrective actions" they’ve ordered before the company’s Lakeside packing plant can reopen for business. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Friday released its corrective action requests (CARs) issued to the company following its […] Read more
XL found lacking in E. coli documentation, beard nets
Alta. to block developments on inactive oil wells
Alberta developers, who until now have been urged to steer clear of abandoned oil and gas wells when planning projects, will soon be told rather than asked. Amendments to the province’s Subdivision and Development Regulation, taking effect Nov. 1, will require permit applications from developers or municipalities to include information about whether abandoned wells are […] Read more
Manitoba biofuel processor’s plant destroyed
Years after becoming Manitoba’s first-ever licensed commercial biodiesel processor, Speedway International has picked up a new and unasked-for distinction. “This was one of the largest fires that (Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service) crews have attended with regards to number of firefighters and pieces of equipment used,” the WFPS said Tuesday after a second-alarm fire destroyed Speedway’s […] Read more
Richardson to boost West Coast port grain storage
Grain handler Richardson International has applied for permits to boost its Port Metro Vancouver terminal’s grain storage space by about two-thirds. The Winnipeg company, currently Canada’s second-biggest grain handler, said Monday it plans to build an 80,000-tonne capacity concrete grain storage annex at its Vancouver port site. After it takes down its current steel storage […] Read more
Two P.E.I. fields quarantined with potato wart
Two potato fields on separate farms on Prince Edward Island are under quarantine after the presence of potato wart was confirmed Thursday. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency didn’t say specifically where the fields are, nor whether they’re near where the wart fungus was discovered in separate cases in 2000 and 2007. On top of the […] Read more
U.S. agrifood giant makes Alta. farm retail play
A southern Alberta ag retailer is poised to be the first Canadian country-level branch for U.S. agrifood and fuel co-operative giant CHS Inc. DynAgra Corp., with outlets at Beiseker, Standard, Rolling Hills and Carseland, is to join CHS’s country operations division effective later this month under the name “CHS DynAgra.” “After substantial analysis, we decided […] Read more
Is sucking better than blowing when seeding canola?
Reading Time: 2 minutes A group of researchers is testing to see whether it’s better to suck than to blow when seeding canola. They’re experimenting with a vacuum planter, which works opposite to an air seeder — a vacuum pulls seeds into rotating plates which place the seed into the soil. The attraction is seed “singulation” — the ability […] Read more
Ethiopian mustard a new biofuel option
Hardy Ethiopian mustard is immune to blackleg, but needs to be monitored for alternaria
Reading Time: 2 minutes Those yellow flowers you see when driving down Highway No. 1 this summer may not be canola, but Ethiopian mustard, a new brassica crop intended for biodiesel and bioproducts. Kevin Falk, a research scientist with Agriculture Canada, specializes in breeding Polish canola and Ethiopian mustard, and has been working with them since 1995. He told […] Read moreSuccessful short line facing uncertain future
Reading Time: 3 minutes The Battle River Railway has been operating since 2008, but its operators aren’t sure how the line will adapt after changes to the wheat board. The BRR covers 50.5 miles of track, from Cairon to Alliance, and has rights on eight miles of track from Cairon into Camrose. Towns along the route include Kelsey, Roseland, […] Read more
Project F-250, part one
Reading Time: 3 minutes Most farms have an older pickup truck around that gets all the dirty jobs, like hauling portable fuel tanks, leaky hydraulic hoses and tool boxes back and forth from the field. Usually, they take over from the new, shiny pickup whenever there is a risk of getting it dirty or scratched. When that old truck […] Read more
