Reading Time: 2 minutes Microplastic pollution is a global environmental problem that is ubiquitous in all environments, including air, water and soil. Microplastics are readily found in treated wastewater sludge, also known as municipal biosolids, that eventually make their way to our agricultural soils. Our recent investigation of microplastic levels in Canadian municipal biosolids found that a single gram […] Read more
How microplastics are making their way into our farmland
Across nine provinces and 22 wastewater treatment plants, the problem was universal
Getting the facts on pesticide residues
Independent testing gives 15 watersheds a clean bill of health for pesticide concentrations
Reading Time: 5 minutes Alberta farm groups have done their homework to prove that farmers are good stewards of the province’s watersheds. Using an independent testing company and lab, the project extensively sampled 15 watersheds in central and southern Alberta for a panel of 129 pesticides. No instances of pesticide residues above prescribed limits were found. Team Alberta Crops, […] Read more
Angry farmers cause Dutch police to close off parliament square
The Hague | Reuters — Police in the Dutch city of The Hague closed its central parliament square on Wednesday to keep out farmers protesting over what they see as attempts to blame them for nitrogen pollution. Thousands of irate farmers had driven tractors to The Hague hours earlier in their third large protest in […] Read more
Don’t let biofouling slow the flow
Three-quarters of wells in some parts of Alberta have biofouling problems
Reading Time: 2 minutes Nothing makes a real estate deal go south faster than the discovery that the water well is no good. Recently Troy Niemans of Titan Water Systems was performing a well test for a real estate transaction and discovered a problem that nearly cancelled the sale. “The sellers had stated that the well produced six gallons […] Read more
Call it a win-win: Curbing pollution with chicken manure
Scientists have found a type of micro-algae that gobbles up greenhouse gas emissions — and it has a taste for nutrient-rich chicken manure, too
Reading Time: 3 minutes Poultry manure and that annoying green slime which grows in our lakes each summer could hold the key to helping the province’s oilsands mining companies and coal-fired power plants clean up their act, while producing a valuable commodity in the process. Researchers have discovered a strain of naturally occurring micro-algae that can scrub 100 per […] Read more
China says over three mln hectares of land too polluted to farm
Government trying to reverse damage done by years of urban and industrial encroachment
Reading Time: 2 minutes About 3.33 million hectares (eight million acres) of China’s farmland is too polluted to grow crops, a government official said Dec. 30, highlighting the risk facing agriculture after three decades of rapid industrial growth. China has been under pressure to improve its urban environment following a spate of pollution scares. But cleaning up rural regions […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
