A s coronavirus spreads across Canada, shutting down local businesses and national companies in its wake, Canadians are being forced into their homes and out of public places like restaurants and bars. Hundreds if not thousands of small businesses and their employees are now struggling to make ends meet as their income is slashed. “It’s […]
Agriculture
Posted inNews + Opinion
Nova Scotia farmers aren’t going away amid COVID-19
A s people practice social distancing, head into isolation, quarantine and prepare for whatever happens next, there’s one thing everyone needs—food. While some are hoarding food and supplies, one local farmer says consumers don’t need to panic about food supply. “There seems to be a lot of concern about food supply,” says Ted Hutten, a […]
Posted inFood + Drink
The winds of change
After surviving last year’s late spring frost and record-breaking warm summer, Nova Scotian growers recently faced off with Hurricane Dorian’s 120-kilometre-an-hour winds. “It’s been a double whammy,” says Victor Oulton of the extreme weather events in the past two years. Oulton is the president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture, which recently sent out […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
New IPCC report flags diet and land-use changes to curb climate chaos
Land and agriculture are critical components in the climate crisis. According to a new Inter governmental Panel on Climate Change report, land use—including agriculture and forestry—accounts for 23 percent of human greenhouse gas emissions, while “natural land processes absorb carbon dioxide equivalent to almost a third of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and industry.” […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Cities hold the key to reversing bee decline
If there’s one thing bees and many city dwellers have in common, it’s a love of gardens. That’s good news for both because it means there’s hope for reversing the decline of bee populations worldwide. Cities are important refuges for these critical pollinators and could ultimately hold the key to their survival. Canada is home […]
Posted inLifestyle
New Brunswick’s high hopes for cannabis
1. With Canada’s Cannabis Act, Bill C-45, passing its second senate reading, recreational legalization is middling toward reality across the country. As the provinces scramble to prepare for the unknown date, New Brunswick is notably on the ball when it comes to cannabis industry development. The province’s 2016 Economic Growth Plan naming cannabis as a […]
Posted inLifestyle
Green is the new gold
“What would you do-o-o for a Klondike Bar?” sings the commercial, a nod to the epic discovery of gold in the Yukon in 1896. In the ensuing gold rush, after news of the Klondike’s riches reached the outside world, tens of thousands of would-be gold-diggers giddy’d up and headed for Canada’s north. News of Justin […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Viticulture shock
Sean Myles has been working on breeding new grape varieties since 2011, when he partnered with Hans Christian Jost—the then-owner of Jost Vineyards—on a cross of Muscat and L’Acadie Blanc grapes. An assistant professor at Dalhousie, Myles works in the Department of Plant, Food, and Environmental Sciences and is the Canada Research Chair in Agricultural […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The turkey rebels of Nova Scotia
[Image-1] Bria awoke. Her eyes, still fuzzy from the battle, adjusted to the small fires lighting the hall. Where was she? Underground? Dead? She remembered being on the Capital steps, the people cheering for her. She had won the Turkey Games, but it had cost so much. “Hello?” she cried out, afraid. The only replies […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Milking it
Cows are simple. There’s no other way to put it. They stare. And right now there’s a good two dozen staring at farmer Rick Rand. Staring, chewing, staring, chewing. It’s not love. At least not on the Holsteins’ part. Cows respond to being fed and being milked, which takes Rand, for his herd of about […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Greed acres at Health Canada
Few things in this world function so well as the natural food system. Sunlight and water rain down to feed plants, which convert solar energy to food energy as they grow. Animals then live off that energy by eating the plants, or eating animals that eat the plants. Animal turd and movement in turn spread […]