Husky turns to corn for ethanol
Fair is fair U.S. farmers want access to Canadian elevators » PaGe 13
Minnedosa plant prefers it over wheat » PaGe 22
SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 70, No. 9 | $1.75 March 1, 2012 manitobacooperator.ca
New livestock technical review process unveiled New process informs public earlier, brings new co-ordination to submissions for expanding livestock operations
Science behind organic systems gains ground “Historic” conference at University of Manitoba well attended
By Lorraine Stevenson co-operator staff /brandon
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onfrontational conditional use hearings may start to become a thing of the past. Public hearings remain part of the process for reviewing any proposed large livestock operations, but by the time they’re held the public will already know what’s being proposed and will have voiced any concerns much earlier on. Details of the new technical review process, which took effect January 1, 2012, were unveiled at the Manitoba Planning Conference here last week. Provincial officials have also met with farmers this month to discuss the changes. Any farmer wanting to expand a livestock operation beyond 300 animal units will still first make application for, and go through the conditional use procedures in their municipality. What’s changed is what happens after that. The new process enables public and government departments to review and comment See REVIEW on page 6 »
University of Manitoba researchers Gary Martens (l) and Martin Entz (r) demonstrate mulching as a technique for boosting fertility in organic systems at a summer field day. Organic scientists were meeting in Winnipeg last week photo: allan dawson By Allan Dawson co-operator staff
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rganic agriculture’s critics routinely claim the practice is more philosophy than agronomy — and the worst cut of all — lacking in “sound science.” Not anymore. Organic is pushing back one peer-reviewed research paper at a time. “We can claim science and we are,” declared Ralph Martin at the opening of the first Canadian Organic Science Conference held at the University of Manitoba Feb. 21-23. The University of Guelph professor and Loblaw chair in sustainable food production, said scientific research shows organic agriculture has benefits, consumers are demanding it and farmers are finding new opportunities by
producing it. Ted Zettel, president of the Organic Federation of Canada, called the meeting of 160 Canadian and international research scientists, farmers, students and industry officials, historic. “This is huge,” he said. “This is very big. The people out there on the land need this research. They need it in order to come up with a methodology that’s efficient enough that it can replace the existing paradigm.” The conference stems from the Canadian Organic Science Cluster, created under Agriculture and Agri-Food’s Growing Forward program. Ag Canada will contribute $6 million for organic research over four years ending March 31, 2013, and industry will contribute $2 million. The money is funding 28 projects and 45 scientists at Agriculture Canada and university research stations across the
country, said conference co-chair Andy Hammermeister. “It’s all about building cred ibility for organic agriculture,” said Hammermeister, an assistant professor at Nova Scotia Agricultural College and manager of the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada. “It supports producers, it supports policy-makers and it supports the other stakeholders.”
Can do
Critics say organic agriculture can’t feed the world. “We see the sustainability and the holistic approach of organic as the future of food production,” Zettel said. It’s certainly a good “plan B,” said University of Iowa researcher Kathleen Delate. Fossil fuels, which are used to See ORGANIC on page 6 »
BUSTED: FOR LYING ABOUT CATTLE’S AGE » PAGE 51