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CHEERS TO GLOBAL BEER MARKETS

The global beer industry has faced significant headwinds the past few years. The pandemic, followed by the escalation of input costs, supply chain difficulties and shifts in consumer preference hit hard, but not all is doom and gloom. China’s brewing industry is quite profitable and markets such as Brazil, Colombia and Mexico continue to thrive and grow. In 2022, global beer production rose in 2022 to 1.89 million hectolitres (mln hL) from 1.87 in 2021, an increase of 1.33 per cent, or a little more than the beer output of Canada.

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ECOLABEL TAKES FLIGHT

Labelling agri-food products that support environmental initiatives is necessary to bridge the gap between farmers and consumers. This approach also presents a unique opportunity for food and beverage companies to demonstrate their own green ethos.

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ENHANCED EMISSIONS DATA

This past growing season, the Olds College Centre for Innovation (OCCI) research team installed LI-COR chambers on one of the institution’s Smart Farm fields to monitor soil emissions of potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). Advanced technology that produces high volume results quickly, the solar powered system consists of several automated gas chambers connected by tubing to two solar powered trace gas analyzers housed in a small shed.

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COOKBOOK EXPANDS THE PRAIRIE FOOD HORIZON

Western Canadian food journalists Dan Clapson and Twyla Campbell are co-authors of Prairie: Seasonal, Farm-Fresh Recipes Celebrating the Canadian Prairies. A cross-section of Prairie cooking past and present, its pages are garnished with beautiful food photography. Clapson and Campbell hope their playful, tasty takes on standards such as perogies, borscht and lentil salad may influence the region’s mealtime future.

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A DREAM OF BETTER DATA

Today, AI and its corollary of machine learning have recently become buzzwords everywhere, including agriculture. The implementation of both requires data. It is readily available but, in the area of harvest data, sorely lacks veracity.

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THE ANSWER MAN

Established by the Government of Alberta in 1973 to help farmers protect their rights in dealings with the booming oil and gas industry of the day, the Farmers’ Advocate Office (FAO) has been greatly expanded from its original mandate. The office later merged with the Property Rights Advocate office and is now known as the Farmers’ and Property Rights Advocate Offices (FPRAO). Its modest team supports farmers and ranchers as they navigate a range of regulatory, environmental and legal issues.

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ALL ABOUT THE ALGORITHMS

The market, defined here as the elements that converge to establish the price for any given commodity or service, has always been hard to discern. Its inscrutable nature promotes the dream of building a “black box” technology that removes human fallibility and emotion from the equation.

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A DIGITAL AG INTRODUCTION

The Prairie Provinces encompass nearly 85 per cent of Canada’s total farmland. Given the massive scale of Western Canadian agriculture, several of the world’s leading precision agriculture companies have established headquarters here. These businesses naturally need to hire many precision ag specialists said Angela Bedard-Haughn, dean of the University of Saskatchewan College of Agriculture and Bioresources. Ag research facilities also require
digitally skilled employees, and there is high demand among students for educational opportunities in this area. USask has even identified interest among students from non-agricultural areas of study.

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NUTRITIONAL KNOWLEDGE GAP

A recent Ipsos Five survey revealed a significant decline in wheat consumption among millennials as compared to baby boomers. While boomers consume wheat-based products more than 10 times per week, millennials do so  just once or twice. “Wheat foods have many short- and long-term health benefits and based on the survey, there are gaps for millennials in understanding the nutritional benefits of wheat,” said Elaine Sopiwnyk, vice-president of technical services for Cereals Canada. Sopiwnyk also sits on the Canadian Wheat Nutrition Initiative (CWNI) leadership team.

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