New Whereabouts™ unique safety device reduces farm risk and improves safety for kids, workers and pets. 

 

Three innovative rural farm families from Saskatchewan have developed a unique safety device that will improve farmyard safety for their children and other farm families. “We saw a product similar to this device in Europe, however, when we investigated the possibility of importing the product we came across a few roadblocks to do that,” explains Wendy Wecker, one of the partners in Prairie Tech Enterprises Ltd. “We were still really interested in the product, so we decided we could go forward by making a ‘made in Canada solution’.” 

Willow biomass production research and demonstration in Manitoba. 

 

For Roger and Marie Haynes of Neepawa, Manitoba the search for a way to heat their farm and greenhouse so they could grow food year-round led them to a unique greenhouse covering and willow plantings as a renewable crop. Willow can produce a large quantity of biomass in a short period of time, has low input requirements and a positive environmental impact. Willow provides biomass for generating heat and electricity, sequesters carbon and has bioremediation potential. 

Researchers show potential for altering grazing management to benefit carbon storage. 

 

Several research projects under the BC Future Forest Ecosystems Scientific Council (FFESC) are focusing on the adaptation of the forest and range management framework to climate change. “As part of a larger FFESC project, we are looking at possible ways of altering grazing management to increase carbon sequestration and to help ranchers realize the benefits,” says Dr. Lauch Fraser, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Community and Ecosystem Ecology, Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC. 

New entrants program will relieve financial burden.

 

If you’re ready to start farming and looking for financial help and business advice, the new FarmNext program may help. FarmNext encourages new farmers to begin farming in Nova Scotia with business planning and coaching, interest rate financial benefits, and on-going financial management advice from specialists of Industry Development and Business Services Branch of the Department of Agriculture.

Research study helps Prairie farmers and communities assess risks and identify adaptation strategies. 

 

A new project launched in April 2011 at the University of Regina will study how climate change will impact the Prairies, especially the agricultural and Indigenous communities. This five-year project, funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) under the International Research Initiative on Adaptation to Climate Change (IRIACC) is part of a $2.5 million international project on Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Extremes in the Americas.