BASF Canada has committed $250,000 to the University of Saskatchewan’s Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) to help establish a research chair position focusing on pollinator health and biodiversity. The $50,000 per year contribution, over five years (2021-2025), will go towards the creation of a permanent, tenured veterinary research chair, with a focus on pollinator… Read More
Category: Bees
When livestock producers and ranchers think about year-round grazing, most think about winter feeding strategies — bale grazing, swath grazing and more. But Steve Kenyon, custom grazer at Busby, Alta., says winter grazing is more about how you manage pastures in the growing season. Kenyon, who runs Greener Pastures custom grazing on over 3,500 acres,… Read More
As of April 13, the Government of Canada is allocating $50 million to help farmers, fish harvesters, and all food production and processing employers with support for temporary foreign workers. Even before COVID-19 was an issue, the agriculture and food sectors already faced significant labour shortages. The advent of COVID-19 has delayed many temporary foreign… Read More
A Canadian company is making headway in the spray world with six-legged applicators. Bee Vectoring Technologies (BVT) uses commercially-reared bees to deliver crop controls through pollination. Its first registered product, Clonostachys rosea CR-7 (CR-7), is an organic strain of an endophytic fungus the company says has many functions, including: Controlling numerous diseases in plants, particularly… Read More
What do you get when you connect two ‘city kid’ filmmakers, a world-class chef, and nine farmers and their families? You get Before The Plate, a genuine behind-the-kitchen-door, on-the-farm look at how food is produced in Canada, and the passion and commitment chefs and farmers apply to their craft. The driving force behind the film… Read More
In a somewhat confusing twist in the on-going neonicotinoid saga, Health Canada announced yesterday the findings of its pollinator health risk assessment for imidacloprid, one of three neonicotinoid insecticides currently under re-evaluation in Canada. It’s confusing because the findings and subsequent recommendations of the Pest Management Regulatory’s risk assessment are essentially a moot point: an earlier… Read More
The European General Court issued a verdict on Thursday upholding the European Commission’s decision in 2013 to restrict the use of neonicotinoid seed treatments (neonics). The ruling is seen as a win for the movement to restrict European farmers’ access to the chemicals used to prevent pest damage to crops. Neonic manufacturers Bayer and Syngenta,… Read More
After several delays on voting, a majority of European Union member states voted in favour of added restrictions on outdoor neonicotinoid use on Friday. Restrictions on neonic use within the EU were first introduced in 2013. Similar to restrictions in Canada, imidacloprid, clothianidin, and thiamethoxam were first restricted for use on corn wheat, barley, oats, and… Read More
Where can Canadians find everything they need to know about farming all wrapped into a neat 60-page package? It’s all in The Real Dirt on Farming. Farm & Food Care Ontario officially unveiled the newest version of its flagship public outreach publication last month. This new Real Dirt is the fourth edition since the project’s inception in… Read More
Honeybees have played an important role in Canadian agriculture for decades, with past stressors and tough seasons humming along under the radar, for the most part. That all changed a few years ago when it became a political imperative to “save the bees.” Maryam Sultan, bee health associate with Bayer, recently discussed the subject of… Read More
The Ontario government recently rolled out its Pollinator Health Action Plan, a draft of which had been put forward in January, 2016, and up for discussion. The final product, found here, is remarkably similar, and, as many have commented, it’s a solid, balanced approach to improving honeybee and native pollinator health in the province. The… Read More
Ontario has released its Pollinator Health Action Plan which includes focusing on four key stressors to honeybee and pollinator health and financial support and increased education for beekeepers. A re-iterated aspirational goal to “restore, enhance and protect” 1 million acres of pollinator habitat is also included in the plan. Found here, the plan is a mix of… Read More
Ontario’s government, in conjunction with the federal government, has announced updates to the Ontario Wildlife Damage Compensation Program (OWDCP). The updated OWDCP will clearly define the requirements farmers need to meet to receive compensation for losses of livestock, poultry, and bees/hives. The OWDCP is part of the GrowingForward 2 program. Changes are said to be… Read More
Ontario MPP for Huron-Bruce, Lisa Thompson, has launched an initiative aimed at addressing concerns that the next phase of Ontario’s neonicotinoid regulations will unfairly limit farmers’ choices and the professional reach of agriculture professionals. Last week, Thompson introduced to the provincial legislature Bill 4, the Supporting Agricultural Experts in Their Field Act, 2016, in counter to changes… Read More
If agriculture wants to reduce the potential impact neonicotinoid seed treatments have on pollinators, it has to modify standard vacuum planters. That’s the verdict from Ridgetown College, University of Guelph researcher Dr. Art Schaafsma. “Essentially, what we’ve created is a drift problem,” says Schaafsma, who spoke publicly about his research for the first time last… Read More