CANADIAN GENOMICS TACKLING REAL-WORLD CHALLENGES . . . NFU APPLAUDS ONTARIO GOVERNMENT’S APPLICATION OF PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE TO NEONICOTINOID USE . . . CAN BREEDERS CURE WHAT AILS OUR BREAST-HEAVY TURKEYS? . . . SAND CASTLES: THE REAL MONEY BEING MADE ON THE FRACKING BOOM . . . OTHER NEWS OF INTEREST...

CANADIAN GENOMICS TACKLING REAL-WORLD CHALLENGES
Source: Newswire.com
During a keynote address at Genomics: the Power and the Promise conference, the Honourable Ed Holder, Minister of State (Science and Technology) highlighted that, with sustained federal investment in genomics, Canada has built a formidable research capacity in this cutting-edge field. He noted that Canada can use genomics to improve salmon breeding in Atlantic Canada, protect Canadian forests and forestry in Western Canada, and provide new understanding and treatments for children suffering from brain cancer across Canada. (read more)

NFU APPLAUDS ONTARIO GOVERNMENT’S APPLICATION OF PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE TO NEONICOTINOID USE
Source: NFU
The National Farmers Union welcomes the Ontario government’s announcement earlier this week that it is going to take concrete actions to protect pollinators, including limiting the use of neonicotinoid seed treatments in corn and soybeans. (read more)

CAN BREEDERS CURE WHAT AILS OUR BREAST-HEAVY TURKEYS?
Source: NPR Many Americans sat down Thursday to a wonderfully meaty, broad-breasted white turkey that grew to maturity in a remarkably short period: just 136 days, on average. We have decades of intense selective breeding to thank for the dramatic evolution of the average American turkey — from a scrawny 13.2 pounds in 1929, to a robust weight of nearly 30 pounds in 2012. A lot of that weight has gone straight to the breast, the meat we adore above all else. (read more)

SAND CASTLES: THE REAL MONEY BEING MADE ON THE FRACKING BOOM
Source: pacificfreepress.com
When it takes up to four million pounds of sand to frack a single well, it’s no wonder that demand is outpacing supply and frack sand producers are becoming the biggest behind-the-scenes beneficiaries of the American oil and gas boom. Demand is exploding for “frac sand” – a durable, high-purity quartz sand used to help produce petroleum fluids and prop up man-made fractures in shale rock formations through which oil and gas flows – turning this segment into the top driver of value in the shale revolution. (read more)