The Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame announced its inductees for 2015 during the hall’s annual meeting in Brandon on April 9th. Eight individuals will be recognized for their “significant and lasting contribution to agriculture in Manitoba”: Harry Airey of Rivers Clarence Baker, formerly of the Beausejour area Morris Deveson of Winnipeg Glen Findlay of Shoal… Read More

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has confirmed the avian influenza virus found in a turkey flock near Woodstock, Ontario is the same subtype identified in British Columbia in December and in several states in the US Midwest over the last month. “The CFIA’s testing at the National Centre for Foreign Animal Diseases has confirmed the strain responsible for… Read More

Emergency use registration will now allow producers in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to use Intego Solo (ethaboxam) for the suppression of Aphanomyces euteiches in field peas. “Pulse production in Western Canada is now under serious threat from Aphanomyces – the most devastating disease in peas worldwide, according to the American Phytopathological Society,” Graham Collier, technical services… Read More

Update — 4pm EDT April 7th: The CFIA placed another six neighbouring farms under quarantine on Tuesday for precautionary measures (these farms had not reported sudden mortalities or other signs of avian influenza.) The infected barn housed 12,000 turkeys, of which 7,500 have died. The CFIA says the remaining birds will be euthanized on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Taiwan… Read More

Ontario’s Organic Meadow Co-operative Inc. has filed for creditor protection in order to complete a “restructuring of its operations,” the company announced today in a press release. Organic Meadow is Canada’s oldest co-operative of organic farmers, organized in 1989, and represents over 100 family farms across Ontario. The company’s goal is to emerge from the… Read More

The head of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is accusing the union that represents food inspectors of “unnecessarily undermining Canadians’ confidence in their food safety system.” The Agriculture Union issued a news release this week saying cost-cutting within the CFIA is creating an inspector shortage that is putting Canadians’ health at risk. As an example, the union says… Read More