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AtlanticFarmer is an online news service that publishes original content and gleans the best information from the web, so we can offer our readers access to a wide variety of articles from one easy source.
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Source: NPR
Ah, cows. They’re big, lumbering, earthbound beasts, right? But sometimes, Bessie and pals just have to get airborne. A gif of dairy cows “jumping for joy” from a video has been making the rounds on the Internet. We spotted it last week when food journalist Michael Pollan tweeted it out. (read more)
Source: Maynards
Two-day auction, March 19 and 20, Brooklyn, N.S. at 10am ADT each day. Featuring: Modern TMP Plant w. (6) Sunds Defibrator Refiners/ (2) Paper Machines/Modern Chip Handling Equip. including 80t Hyd. Truck Dump, Chip Stacker and Reclaim/ Effluent Treatment/ Paper Winding and Packaging Equip./ Late Model Electrical Transformers, MCC's,DC Drives, Breakers and Main Panels/ Instrumentation, Valves and controls/ Large Machine and Fab Shops inc. Roll Grinders/ Mobile Equip. including Forklifts, Dump trucks, Pickups/ 10 Million Dollar Plus Stores Inventory including Motors Bearings, Valves, Hydraulics etc./ Large Qty of Mill Support Equipment including Gen Sets. (read more)
Source: NSCP
The Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture is changing its approach to delivering federal-provincial programs under Growing Forward 2. Information sessions will be held around the province in late March. (read more)
Source: NPR
It's easy to think of “organic” and “non-GMO” as the best buddies of food. They sit comfortably beside each other in the same grocery stores – most prominently, in Whole Foods Market. Culturally, they also seem to occupy the same space. Both reject aspects of mainstream industrial agriculture. (read more)
Source: Time.com
Talk about an occupational hazard: 40 percent of Australian workers may be exposed to chemicals that boost their risk of developing cancer, according to a team of Aussie researchers. Solar radiation, tobacco smoke, and diesel engine exhaust topped the list of the most common disease-causing culprits. (read more)
Source: BBC
More than 600 scientists gathered in the Netherlands for a global food security conference, described as the first of its kind. Organizers said science could help end uncertainty surrounding efforts to meet the food needs of future generations. (read more)
Source: Vocativ.com
Earlier this week, a humble Virginia dairy farmer entered his barn to discover a harrowing scene: someone had swiped a giant load of bull semen from his inventory, which he uses to artificially inseminate his cows. In total, 10 containers of the precious seed were gone, never to find their way into his prize-winning Holsteins. Fortunately for the farmer, the thieves got away with only $250 of bovine booty, a relatively modest loss. Over the last few years, a rash of jizz heists across the country has cost some dairymen hundreds of thousands of dollars. (read more)
Source: NPR
The other morning, I found myself staring at something strange and unfamiliar: empty grocery shelves with the word “eggs” above them. The store, a Whole Foods Market in Washington, D.C., blamed, in another sign, the dearth on “increased demand for organic eggs.” (read more)
Source: The Chronicle Herald
He’s riding the rails in order to save them. Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Bruce Hyer arrived in Halifax recently to highlight the decline of the country’s rail system. “I’m fearful that we’re about to lose most of Via Rail, end of story,” Hyer said in an interview after flying in from his home riding. (read more)
Source: Dal.ca
Dr. Dennis vanEngelsdorp with be giving a free lecture on the subject of Honey Bee Losses in North America: Causes and Consequences at <span>Dalhousie Agricultural Campus Alumni Theatre</span>, <span>Friday, March 7 at 7pm.<strong> </strong></span>This event is being cohosted by Dalhousie University and the Nova Scotia Beekeepers Association and is open to the public. (read more)
Source: FCC
Canada and the United States have reached a common understanding to harmonize the terminology used for wholesale cuts of meat. As of Feb. 24, 2014, selected meat cut names, including chicken breast fillets, beef hip and lamb leg and chops, can be used interchangeably with their U.S. equivalent. The move is expected to benefit the industry by reducing the costs associated with maintaining separate inventories, easing trade and reducing red tape and regulatory burden. (read more)
Source: NSWOOA
For more than a year, the Nova Scotia Woodlot Owners and Operators Association has been meeting with a large and diverse group of organizations that provide services to the owners of private forestland. (read more)
Source: National Geographic
Beer and whiskey lovers, raise a glass to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which has just taken in 20,000 new crop varieties – including 575 types of barley. The seeds, sourced from more than a hundred countries, arrived this week to coincide with the vault’s sixth birthday. (read more)
Source: NPR
We Americans are heavy consumers of meat, and we’re increasingly reminded that eating less of it will shrink our carbon footprint. Growing the crops to feed all those animals releases lots of greenhouse gases. But a new study argues that eating less meat isn’t a very practical climate-protection recipe for developing countries, where demand for meat is rising most quickly. (read more)
Source: The Chronicle Herald
Over the course of his forestry career, my father, a forest technician, woodlot owner, silviculture and harvesting contractor, has come full circle in his approach to dead and dying trees. Once considered a nuisance, he now sees deadwood as an essential component of a healthy forest ecosystem. A graduate of the Maritime Forest Ranger School in 1976, Dad began his career in silviculture as an early proponent of the industrial agro-forestry approach of the day. (read more)
Source: AHES
Join us at this year’s Atlantic Heavy Equipment Show, April 3-4, 2014 at the Moncton Coliseum Complex. Exhibit space is now 100 percent sold out for this jam-packed event, which has now expanded to include 80,000 square feet of outdoor exhibit space. (read more)
Source: FCC
Canada has fallen from fourth to fifth in global biotech acreage, as uptake has started to plateau and new markets emerge in developing countries. Globally, biotech crop acreage is up three percent, according to a new report from the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications titled Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops 2013. (read more)
Source: NSFA
A report from Statistics Canada came out this week about how agriculture has changed over the past two decades; CFA’s Scott Ross took a closer look and made the following notes: Fewer farms, with younger operators is one of the major findings of the paper… (read more)
Source: New York Times
Since they arrived in the Great Lakes in the 1980s, two species of mussels the size of pistachios have spread to hundreds of lakes and rivers in 34 states and have done vast economic and ecological damage. These silent invaders, the quagga and zebra mussels, have disrupted ecosystems by devouring phytoplankton, the foundation of the aquatic food web, and have clogged the water intakes and pipes of cities and towns, power plants, factories, and even irrigated golf courses. (read more)
Source: Atlantic Farmer
The annual spring gathering and showcase of all things sustainable will soon be upon us. The third annual South Shore Sustainability Expo & Forum is set to take place in Bridgewater, N.S. on Saturday April 5.
The Expo runs from 9am-2pm in the NSCC campus gymnasium. An educational Forum will follow, from 1:30-4:30pm at Osprey Ridge. Please save the date, as we invite you to participate in these exciting events!
At this time, the Expo is seeking additional businesses and community groups to participate and promote green goods, services, and activities that relate to improving local sustainability. Our focus this year is on actions residents can take to reduce climate change.
This is the third annual Sustainability Expo and the volunteer team is looking to build upon past success. We expect 30 exhibitors and 400 patrons to take part in the event, making it a great local marketing and networking opportunity.
Should you wish to get your business, company, or non-profit organization involved in the Sustainability Expo as a vendor please contact the Expo Team at leif.helmer@nscc.ca for a Vendor Information Package.
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