Young adults between the ages of 18-25 have the chance to be one of the 40 Canadians to attend the Global 4-H Youth Ag-Summit in Calgary this Aug. 19-25. Twenty of these participants will be 4-H members and/or 4-H alumni.

To be eligible, they can submit an application by writing an essay (max. 2,000 words) or filming a video (max. seven minutes) about the challenges of feeding a hungry planet. It should address the challenge of feeding two billion more people in the next 40 years.

Deadline for applications is Feb. 15, 2013.

With sponsorship from Bayer CropScience, the Canadians will be among 120 youth selected from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Tanzania, United Kingdom and the U.S.

For more details and to apply online visit www.YouthAgSummit.com.

New rules aimed at preventing repeat of nationwide BSE border ban

winnipeg / reuters

Canada and the U.S. have agreed to maintain livestock and meat trade during animal disease outbreaks using a new system that targets trade bans more precisely by region.

The new system, which won’t take effect until after consultation with industry groups and details are worked out, would prevent a full border ban that happened during the BSE outbreak. Instead, each country would only restrict trade within designated disease-control zones where the animal disease breaks out.

If it had been in place in 2003, the U.S. would likely only have restricted imports of beef from Western Canada, not the entire country, said Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz.

“This is a sensible approach,” he said, adding the “choke point” between the two zones would be at the inspection station at West Hawk Lake, Man.