By Jennifer Blair and Glenn Cheater Glacier FarmMedia staff A surge in the number of organic crop producers in Alberta has boosted organic production on the Prairies to a level not seen since the 2008 financial crisis. That’s a key highlight of a new report from the Prairie Organic Grain Initiative, an alliance of Organic […]
A big part of going organic is getting things in shape before starting the transition. That’s according to Martin Entz, a professor and natural systems agriculture researcher at the University of Manitoba. Entz has spent years asking organic hopefuls to take a hard look at their management pre-transition and to take advantage of conventional tools […]
The numbers look slim, but experts say Manitoba’s modest processing increases in 2016 miss part of the story. By Alexis Stockford Glacier FarmMedia staff Manitoba had one more organic processor in 2016 than 2015, according to the last Organic Agriculture in the Prairies report, but provincial organics expert Laura Telford says the view might be more optimistic […]
By Alexis Stockford Glacier FarmMedia staff Manitoba and Saskatchewan couldn’t match Alberta’s explosion of new organic producers in 2016, but local experts say their gains have been in acres, not farms. Alberta gained 82 certified producers (counting livestock operations) from 2015-16, according to the 2016 Organic Agriculture in the Prairies report. Saskatchewan and Manitoba, meanwhile, […]
By Laura Rance OrganicBiz Editorial Director Farm-to-fork eating is fashionable among consumers, but it puts more pressure on those producing and handling crops to keep contaminants out of the food system, the agronomy manager for Fresh Hemp Foods says. Darrell McElroy said recent media reports and product recalls after people were sickened by E.coli- contaminated […]
By Laura Rance OrganicBiz editor If asked to describe the ‘typical’ organic consumer, many would think of a West Coast hippie crunching on granola. Well, think again. It turns out the stereotypical organic customer is more likely to live in Alberta than British Columbia, and is a university educated 30-something male with a family, new […]
Stanford Earth – When grocery stores tout sustainable products, consumers may take their claims at face value. Yet few studies have analyzed whether or not companies who claim to improve the sustainability of their products are actually changing practices in their supply chains. In a new study published online Dec. 22 in the journal Global Environmental […]
Aarhus University – Once you’ve bought your first organic milk in the supermarket, you are highly likely to continue buying organic milk. With time, you are also likely to increase the number of different types of organic food products on your shopping list. This is the result of new research from Aarhus BSS in which […]
The first loaves of bread made from Kernza have been gobbled up in Manitoba By Laura Rance OrganicBiz editor You won’t be buying Kernza bread in a Manitoba bakery or grocery store any time soon, but a small group of proponents see it as a sign of things to come. Guests at a small reception […]
Cornell University – When a Cornell-led team of scientists analyzed two dozen environmental factors to understand bumblebee population declines and range contractions, they expected to find stressors like changes in land use, geography or insecticides. Instead, they found a shocker: fungicides, commonly thought to have no impact. “Insecticides work; they kill insects. Fungicides have been […]
