A recent meeting of the Group of 20 (G20) Agricultural Chief Scientists has resulted in greater attention to plant pests that move across borders and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Living Laboratories research approach. The meeting, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), is an opportunity to discuss major challenges to sustainable agricultural production. Ministry spokespeople […] Read more
Tag Archives Environment — page 22
International agricultural scientists affirm commitment to science-based decisions
The G20 scientists are taking a greater look at Canada’s Living Laboratories approach to research
The curious case of tainted milk from a Maine dairy farm
The farm’s cow’s manure and their milk showed high levels of perfluoroalkyl substances
Reuters – For Maine dairy farmer Fred Stone, the discovery in 2016 that his cows were producing tainted milk has since brought financial ruin and threatened to shut down a century-old family business. Now state regulators and health experts are investigating whether the contamination could reflect a much broader problem for farms that used similar […] Read more
Trump climate deregulation could boost CO2 levels
Plans by United States President Donald Trump to roll back climate change regulations could boost U.S. carbon emissions by more than 200 million tonnes a year by 2025, according to a report prepared for state attorneys general released in early March. Why it matters: The increase from the world’s second-biggest greenhouse gas emitter behind China […] Read more
Evidence for man-made global warming hits ‘gold standard’
Man-made climate change increasingly clear in satellite records and can no longer be ignored, scientists say
Reuters/Oslo – Evidence for man-made global warming has reached a “gold standard” level of certainty, adding pressure for cuts in greenhouse gases to limit rising temperatures, scientists said Feb. 26. “Humanity cannot afford to ignore such clear signals,” the American-led team wrote in the journal Nature Climate Change of satellite measurements of rising temperatures over […] Read more
U.S. ethanol future tied to bumper crop of D.C. politics
Politics is playing a significant role in the future of ethanol, which now uses more than 30 per cent of the corn in the U.S.
Glacier FarmMedia staff – Ethanol producers in the United States achieved another record year in 2018, with production climbing 1.9 per cent to 16.1 billion U.S. gallons processed from about 5.6 billion bushels of corn, or about 38 per cent of the 2017-18 crop. But ethanol producers are not content. They are vexed by the […] Read more
Making gasoline from wood pulp
Renewable energy: A Swedish researcher is using a pulp and paper byproduct to power cars
Lund, Sweden | Reuters – Might tree roots, twigs and branches one day be used to power cars? That’s what a Swedish researcher is hoping after developing a pulp byproduct that, on a modest scale, does just that. Chemical engineering scientist Christian Hulteberg, from Lund University, has used the black liquor residue from pulp and […] Read more
Eye on Mother Nature pulls farm from brink
Diverse rotations, water management and attention to erosion restore environment, farm profitability
Mimicking nature has been key to a financial turnaround for Greg Judy and his family. The Missouri-based livestock farmer told a crowd gathered at an Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario (EFAO) meeting about his farm’s transformation. “We’re going to see another dustbowl,” Judy warned during a workshop for EFAO’s recent four-day annual convention in London, […] Read more
13 ways to kill your… farm
Observations about rural communities could also apply to farms
Doug Griffiths has spent a lot of time looking at rural communities and he’s come up with 13 things that communities do to themselves to lose business, momentum and size. Griffiths spoke at the recent Ontario Federation of Agriculture annual meeting. His 13 points could apply to farms just about as well as rural communities. […] Read more
All hands on deck in climate change battle
Everyone and everything needed to hold climate line, scientists urge
Thomson Reuters Foundation | London – Last-ditch efforts to hold climate change to the most ambitious target set by governments will likely require using every available technique rather than picking and choosing the most attractive ones, climate scientists say. Dramatically reducing the use of coal, planting huge swathes of land with carbon-absorbing forest or powering […] Read more
Province aims to clear regulatory block to natural gas expansion
A new act will allow a mix of investment options to fund more natural gas access
The Ontario Conservative government is opening up the way to greater investment in natural gas infrastructure in Ontario that don’t have it. Premier Doug Ford announced at the 2018 International Plowing Match (IPM) in Pain Court that a new Natural Gas Act would be introduced soon that will allow for public, private and consumer investment […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
