A City of Iqaluit worker fills a water truck at the Sylvia Grinnell River after authorities ordered the Nunavut capital’s 7,000 residents not to drink the city’s water due to suspected fuel contamination, on Oct. 14, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Casey Lessard)

Iqaluit confirms ‘exceedingly high levels’ of fuel in water supply

Water not safe for cooking or drinking, city says

Reuters –– The Canadian city of Iqaluit said lab results confirmed that fuel had entered its water supply, officials announced Friday. Analysis of samples from one of the city’s water tanks found “exceedingly high levels of various fuel components,” Amy Elgersma, Iqaluit’s chief administrative officer, said, adding it was likely diesel or kerosene. Residents in […] Read more

Farmers plant saplings in a rice field on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India on July 5, 2019. (File photo: Reuters/Amit Dave)

India unveils new rice variety to reduce water use, labour

New Delhi | Reuters — India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched an array of new high-yielding crop varieties, including herbicide-tolerant rice that can be directly sown into the soil, cutting expenditure on water and farm workers. In India, the world’s biggest rice exporter, the conventional method of rice cultivation requires farmers to sow […] Read more

Workers unload humanitarian aid from a U.S. military helicopter at the airport at Les Cayes, Haiti on Aug, 18, 2021 after Saturday’s 7.2 magnitude earthquake. (Photo: Reuters/Henry Romero)

Haitians grow impatient for quake aid as hungry crowd gathers

Victims say they still lack food, shelter, clean water; some major hospitals damaged

Les Cayes, Haiti | Reuters — A hungry crowd gathered outside an airport in southern Haiti on Wednesday as people left homeless by an earthquake that killed some 2,000 people voiced anger that government aid was slow to arrive five days after the disaster, leaving many without food and water. Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who […] Read more

Drainage tile has been in high demand in Ontario.

Demand strong for drainage tile

High land values, commodity prices and assistance programs drive investments in tile drainage

From the far north to the deep south, landowners across Ontario continue to invest in tile drainage despite ever-increasing acreage costs. They’re doing so partially because of high land values. Why it matters: Farmers and other land investors install drainage tile to increase land values beyond existing per-acre purchase prices. Jesse Tait, board member for […] Read more

Prairies hit hard by drought

Prairies hit hard by drought

Parts of south-central, southwestern Manitoba among driest

MarketsFarm — A new nationwide drought map released by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Canadian Drought Monitor (CDM) shows just how dry conditions are in the Prairies, especially in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Areas in southern Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan have experienced at least six months of drought conditions, according to CDM’s drought assessment as of March […] Read more


A field near Lucan is the site of one of 10 projects examining the potential value of narrower tile.

How close is too close when it comes to tile drainage?

Projects look at 12.5-foot tile spacing and potential yield benefits

A tile company is working with growers across southwestern Ontario to complete narrow spacing tile plots. Why it matters: Few projects have looked at the value of narrow tile spacing in Ontario. Opportunities like this help growers understand how different tile spacing can improve their crop. During a Middlesex Soil and Crop meeting, Tony Kime, […] Read more

Riparian buffer designs studied included widths of 35 to 100 feet, some all grass, some all trees, and some – like the one shown – both trees and grass.

Harvesting riparian buffers sees little impact to water quality

Science Notes: Harvested vegetation could increase biofuel efforts

Allowing farmers to harvest vegetation from their riparian buffers will not significantly impede the ability of those streamside tracts to protect water quality by capturing nutrients and sediment – and it will boost farmers’ willingness to establish buffers. That is the conclusion of Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences researchers, who compared the impacts of […] Read more

A team of researchers have published a paper that shows irrigation of cattle feed crops is the greatest consumer of river water in the western United States.

The challenge of raising beef and dairy in a desert

Science Notes: Irrigation to feed crops for cattle in western U.S. drops river levels

Humans are using freshwater resources faster than they can be naturally replenished. In the western United States, for example, water extractions from the Colorado River have exceeded total river flow, causing rapid depletion of water storage reservoirs. In addition, as these water sources dry up, species of fish, plants and animals are also adversely impacted. […] Read more


(Food-guide.canada.ca)

Eat plant-based foods more often, new Food Guide says

Health Canada unveiled a new Canada Food Guide today that ends the era of the ‘four food groups,’ no longer refers to serving sizes nor specific amounts of food to eat daily, and replaces the former iconic rainbow with a dinner plate comprised mostly of plant-based foods. This new guide is all about proportion rather […] Read more

Farmers would pay more for water from proposed California tunnel

Sacramento | Reuters –– California farmers would pay more to irrigate their crops under a proposal to build tunnels under the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta to funnel water to the state’s agricultural breadbasket, officials said Friday. The analysis released by state Treasurer Bill Lockyer said regional water suppliers and the farmers who purchase water from […] Read more