The 2014/15 growing season has been one of the most challenging in recent years. Each crop year inevitably has pockets that see challenging conditions, but it’s been a while since we’ve seen widespread dryness on the level experienced this year.
The son of a farmer in Val Marie, SK, Oneil Carlier, Alberta’s newest minister of agriculture and forestry, has led an interesting life. His rural upbringing included inoculating cattle, helping at harvest and riding tractors, while his spare time was spent swimming in irrigation ditches and making occasional visits to the “big city”—Swift Current.
Sustainability means a lot of things to a lot of people, and coming up with a one-size-fits-all definition is a nearly impossible task. Despite this inability to pinpoint the word’s meaning, it has become a crucial part of modern agriculture.
Medhat Nasr has been fascinated by insects since he was a boy, growing up near the pyramids of Giza. He majored in entomology while pursuing his undergraduate degree at Cairo University. Honeybees interested him because of their unique social structure and their role in crop pollination. Nasr chose to focus his master’s degree on honeybees, and his head has been filled with bees ever since.
UAV is an abbreviation for unmanned aerial vehicle. Some people call them drones, some people call them toys, but whatever we call them, it is clear that they are serious business. But what are they?
In this month’s Farm Gate we take a closer look at wheat re-classification, terminal expansion, an old pesticide with new applications, identifying malt varieties with genetic markers and a failed Monsanto/Syngenta takeover. We also meet the new CSTA president and revisit the TFW issue in Canada.
