Researchers from the University of Alberta, the Guelph University and the University of Manitoba have found a way to cut cattle methane by up to 25 percent.
By adjusting feed’s chemical balance, researchers were able to greatly reduce methane production in cattle. Specifically they examined the balance of starch, sugar, cellulose, ash, fat and “other elements”.
The research team as well as other researchers around the world have also examined other solutions for reducing the methane production of dairy cows and cattle including using genetics to selectively breed lower methane producing cattle and introducing specially formulated additives including enzymes or fish oil in feed to reduce the production of methane. Other factors which impact the total methane production include the productivity of the dairy cows (ie: more milk produced per cows means less cows needed).
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas being 20 times more effective as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Luckily, methane emissions are at much lower volume than carbon dioxide but even the Kyoto protocol which seeks to control greenhouse gas emissions attempts to regulate the amount of methane being produced in each country.
It has been shown that approximately 16% of methane emissions are due to cattle belch while the entire livestock sector (including chickens, pigs and cattle) produce 37% of human induced methane emissions.
No commentsagriculture
The province of New Brunswick recently announced that it would make available up to $300,000 for silviculture operations such as thinning (commercial and pre-commercial) on their sugar maple stands.
Judging from last year’s silviculture funding, there are restrictions to what size operation are eligible for funding (5 hectares with > 150 taps/ha) as well a maximum limit per hectare ($500) and per producer ($5000).
The intent of the financial support is to encourage healthy and more productive sap production from the sugar maples and which should in turn encourage increased maple syrup production. Unfortunately there are other uncontrollable factors such as weather which affect sap production and thus profitability.
New Brunswick is a fairly large player in the maple syrup market worldwide with approximately four million pounds of syrup being produced every season. Although this is a relatively small amount compared to the production from Quebec, it still represents about $12 million annually to the New Brunswick economy. In addition, with the price of maple syrup having risen fairly dramatically in the last few years, maple syrup production has the potential for increased returns.
By specifically targeting the silviculture side of maple syrup production, as opposed to say improving the efficiency of the sap boiling process, the government is also helping out provincial silviculture firms (including the Irvings) which have been struggling along with the rest of the forestry sector for the last few years.
No commentsagriculture
Chris Corrigan has an appeal against the humble melons lamenting that melons and other fruits should only be served in season at gathering such as meetings and conferences. As he points out, fruits are shipped halfway around the world in order to satisfy demands that fruits (and vegetables for that matter) be available all year round regardless of the time of year. It is now possible to buy strawberries, oranges, apples and melons any time of the year whether it is +40 or -40 degees outside. Consumers don’t need to worry about little things like ripeness and where the produce comes from. They can simply buy it at the store and eat it when they want.
Mind you the only time that the fruits are tasty and fresh are when they are locally in season. To buy local produce though you might have to show up at your farmer’s market instead of the supermarket.
1 commentmarketing
It is great to see that bigger is not always better.
The story old-school hog farming stages a comeback, about Russ Kremer and the Ozark Mountain Pork co-operative, is a fabulous demonstration that quality and sustainable agriculture can succeed and overcome the mindset that bigger and “more efficient” is always the best.
I don’t think that it is difficult to argue that higher quality and better tasting food can be made by using more humane and caring practices. The question is are people willing to pay more for better tasting food and for food that is produced or grown using more sustainable methods?
Are you willing to pay more for items such as free range chickens and eggs or for organic foods?
No commentsagriculture
Have you ever noticed that certain food items that you buy don’t seem to last as long as before? This could be due to the practice known as short sizing.
The practice of short sizing consists of slightly reducing package sizes while keeping the prices near the same level. This has the effect of reducing the amount of food required to be manufactured thus reducing the manufacturer’s cost. In some cases, the packaging remains identical but the amount of food in the package is reduced. As prices are kept the same, manufacturers increase their profit margin. Some manufacturers claim that the practice is used to prevent the need to raise prices but the effect for the consumer is the same, less food for the same price.
Short sizing can and does happen in other retail packages such as shampoo and cleaning supplies but it can be seen most often in food products.
Short sized packages are typically slightly smaller than the previous packages which they replace. For example, a 1 litre jar of peanut butter might be reduced to 975 ml or a 500 g box of crackers might get replaced by a 450 g box. The small change has the effect that many consumers will not notice the smaller size and simply purchase the product as they had before.
Slight reductions in sizes, especially to odd sizes can also make it more difficult for shoppers to perform unit cost calculations for comparison shopping. 5$ for a 500 ml can of juice makes it easy to calculate a 1$ per 100 ml unit cost. 5$ for a 475 ml can of juice however is a bit tougher to calculate the unit cost of $1.05 per 100 ml. By making it more difficult to compare unit costs, it is hard for grocery shoppers to know if they are really getting a good value for their food dollars. Although I can’t find the original study, reportedly, in a UK study : “When provided with only the total price and weight for six different sizes of baked beans, just 7% of consumers could accurately calculate the lowest unit price.”
Many consumers are growing frustrated with short sizing and recently the mainstream media such as the NY Times and the LA Times have picked up stories of consumer frustration.
Does it bother you that packages are shrinking without getting any cheaper?
1 commentFood Labelling, food processing
In 2007, the Canadian government announced new regulatory changes with respect to cheese sold in Canada that may affect the quality, content and perhaps the price of cheese in your supermarket.
The changes are fairly minor but the updated law will require imposes compositional standards for cheeses. In other words there will now be minimum percentages of milk and cream required to make and sell cheese under certain labels such as cheddar in Canada. This is in contrast to today where cheese manufacturers have no limits on the percentages of other milk ingredients (modified milk ingredients) which can be used to manufacture cheese.
The entire list of regulations concerning not only cheese but other dairy products can be found at: http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-0.4/SOR-79-840.
While the dairy industry and smaller cheese producers support the amendments, the industry’s biggest cheese processors such as Kraft Canada and Saputo are fighting the labelling changes as they claim that the reduction of modified milk ingredients (mostly imported) from their cheese making process in favour of raw milk (local I might add), will raise prices and in the end hurt cheese consumption.
As previously stated on the CBC’s Marketplace, there is more to the story however. Modified milk ingredients can be imported into Canada tariff free unlike milk and cream which are typically used to make cheese and ice cream. These low cost milk ingredients are then used to make lower quality products.
Hopefully the legal challenges will be quickly struck down and Canadian can finally be assured that what they are buying in their stores really is the cheese that they expect.
See also: http://www.theholmteam.ca/Canadian.cheese.pdf
No commentsFood Labelling, food processing
New Brunswick Open Farm Day for 2008 has been scheduled for September 21st, 2008.
Every year in the fall, the NB Department of Agriculture and Aquaculture, along with the agricultural alliance of NB with support from the Sobey’s supermarket chain have an Open Farm Day. In the spirit of Doors Open, this is an opportunity for the public to tour and get a glimpse of operating farms and food related operations. It also allows the public to gain an appreciation for the food chain and how some of the food arrives at the table.
There are several interesting farms which will be opened to visitor for guided tours and open discussions.
A new tour being given this year at Open Farm Days are will be boat tours of salmon aquaculture pens in the Bay of Funday near St. George. The New Brunswick Salmon Growers Association is hosting these tours and there will be two tours departing at 1pm and 3pm. Reservations are available.
Ara-li Acres which is a horse breeding hobby farm north of Sussex. Tours of the farm and of the farm’s Morgan horses will be available to the public.
Waldow Farms Ltd. a dairy farm with 160 milking cows and a total of 360 to 400 animals will be giving tours of their farm and allow the public to watch the cows being milked.
Sussex will have two activities as the Agricultural Museum in Sussex will be giving free museum tours from 12:00 until 4:00 and there will also be New Brunswick beef expo at the Princess Louise Show Centre.
Motts Landing Vineyard will be giving tours of their 6 acre vineyard near Cambridge-Narrows.
Speaking of wine, Magnetic Hill Winery will be giving winery tours as well as conducting sampling sessions.
In Memramcook, the Bourgeois farm will have winery tours as well as have a U-pick operation at its apple and fruit orchard.
Glarro Farm in Petitcodiac will have wagon rides and farm tours of their beef farm
Scott’s Nursery one of the largest nurseries in New Brunswick with over 6 acres of greenhouses will be conducting tours of its operations throughout the day.
Coburn Farms in Keswick will be conducting tours of its egg, grain and cider operations throughout the afternoon.
One of Atlantic Canada’s first certified organic farms Good Spring Farm will have tours of their poultry and vegetable operations.
The Apple Bin is a store located in Keswick Ridge which sells exclusively New Brunswick produce and farm products will have an exhibition on Canadian Heritage apple and potato displays as well as having fresh local produce for sale.
Donnelly Holsteins near Lake George milks 42 Holstein cows and will have tours of the farm as well as walking trails into nearby woods.
Schotanus Farm near Hanwell will have demonstrations on planting tulips as well as honey bees, small fruits and apples.
Everett Orchard in Island View on route 102 is a 7 acres apple orchard which will have a U-Pick opened up for families and the rest of the interested public.
The Double Oord dairy farm in Springfield on route 615 will have tours of its farm as well as milking demonstrations of its 100 head cattle herd.
In Hoyt, New Brunswick (just south of Fredericton on the 101) is Freshet Farms which is a 200 acres dairy farm will have tours. They also have an onsite playground.
There are other farms and food producers involved in Open Farm Day in the Upper Saint John river valley and northern New Brunswick.
For more info, there is a PDF available with a map of locations and more details on each farm at http://fermenbfarm.ca/uploads//Website_Assets/AANB_Map_NB.pdf
The map can also be found at local Sobeys supermarkets in New Brunswick.
2 commentsagriculture
If you are looking for some lemon meringue pie or just about anything else that uses lemons, be prepared to have to hunt it down as you might have a hard time finding it. You might want to get your wallet ready too as a shortage of lemons (and lemon juice) has pushed prices for the fresh fruit up by more than double.
Due to a combination or drought and frost in the primary lemon growing regions of southern Europe, California and Arizona lemon suppliers do not have adequate supplies and the first to feel the shortage seems to be the lemon juice producers.
See: TheStar.com – Lemon juice scarcity sends prices soaring.
No commentsagriculture
In late July, the New Brunswick government announced a large funding initiative for the agricultural sector. Totalling up to $850,000 the funds will be divided between several different programs in the following manner:
All of the programs aim to increase the competitiveness of New Brunswick farmers and helping them increase their productivity by either improving their land or their crops.
There are more details and application forms at http://www.gnb.ca/0027/0017-e.asp.
Combined with previously announced funding of agricultural initiative of over $750,000 it appears that the New Brunswick Liberals led by Shawn Graham are really looking to push agriculture forward in this province.
No commentsfarming
In April, the Hawaii Department of Agriculture started a three year pilot program which is attempting to trace and track produce (tomatoes in the pilot) using RFID tags. The tags are not attached directly to the tomatoes but to the boxes in which the tomatoes are shipped from the farm.
The intent is to have a record of the produce’s location and therefore be able to trace produce through the food distribution chain. By having such traceability, it would be easy to quickly isolate and contain food contamination such as the recent salmonella outbreaks in the United States.
If successful, this technology could help reliably track shipments of produce, meat and other goods through our food system. Despite probable objections to opening up this kind of data, if it was made available to consumers, it would give us the ability to see where our food really comes from.
1 commentfood safety