4-H NEW BRUNSWICK

Source: AtlanticFarmer.com

4-H members from the Western District 4-H Clubs will be taking part in the Carleton County Spring Show and Sale April 7-9, 2014, at the Northern Carleton Civic Centre in Florenceville-Bristol, N.B. This year 22 of the animals at the show and sale are being raised by 4-H members. Weighing in and tagging will take place on Monday, April 7 beginning at 5pm with the 4-H Judging Competition set for 7:30pm. On Tuesday, April 8 the 4-H Showmanship Classes and Conformation Classes will take place beginning at 10am. Participants will finish off this very busy day with the Awards Banquet being held at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bath at 7pm.  On Wednesday, April 9 the sale will begin at 1pm. There is no admission charge for this event and it is open to the general public. Visitors are welcome to come and see the 4-H members as they progress through the steps of exhibiting at a show and sale. If you have never watched someone get a beef animal ready for a show this event if for you. Some of these 4-H members recently competed at the National Junior Beef Heifer Show held in connection with The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair this past November in Toronto and they definitely know how to get their animal ready to be a contender for the champion of the show. Check us out April 7-9 at the NCCC!

Our 4-H members in the beef project are very interested and dedicated to the beef industry and through their involvement in the beef project will likely consider a career in farming or a technical or professional career that relates to agriculture. Also through the knowledge gained by completing the beef project when they become a consumer they will have a greater appreciation of the importance of and some of the issues facing the livestock industry. 4-H members must care for their project animals; they must complete a record book on their project animal where they maintain current records of the costs associated with the management of the animal. They will also learn judging skills that will help them as they make decisions each day of their life – from selecting what to have to eat for breakfast, which jeans to buy, etc. They learn to choose things on quality – not on what someone else tells you. Judging will give them the confidence to make a choice, to teach them to organize their thoughts and think while they are talking and to learn to assess the positives and negatives of a situation/article. 

4-H in New Brunswick is a rural, community based organization, which develops life skills such as citizenship, cooperation, responsibility, independence, entrepreneurship, leadership, teaching of proper environmental practices and financial management through achievement in project and program work for young people between the ages of six and 21. As the New Brunswick population ages there is a need to facilitate the entry of beginning producers with a strong skill and knowledge base into the farming industry. Our 4-H program is a natural fit to do this as we provide our 4-H members with those skills. We promote agriculture as a viable occupation to young people and provide them with access to programming that will develop their skills to use the technology needed in today's agriculture industry resulting from all the advances being made in science and innovation. 

For more information on the 4-H portion of the Carleton County Spring Show and Sale please contact Steven Hunter at 392-8331 or sthunter@xplornet.ca 

CATCH UP ON POPULAR AGRICULTURAL TRADESHOWS

Source: FCC
There are so many high-quality agriculture tradeshows throughout Canada and internationally. If you’re lucky, you can head out to see a few of them each year – but going to all of them isn’t realistic. FCC Express, is bringing some of the most popular ag tradeshows to you. (read more)

COOKE UNFAZED BY LOBLAW FISH PLAN

Source: The Chronicle Herald
Loblaw’s plan to sell farmed Aquaculture Stewardship Council-certified Atlantic salmon won’t have any impact on Cooke Aquaculture Inc. of New Brunswick. “We have a good relationship with them,” Cooke spokeswoman Nell Halse said in an interview last week. “We’re a major supplier.” (read more)

PESTICIDE APPLICATOR’S CERTIFICATION

Source: ThinkFarm
A four-day course in preparation for writing the Pesticide Applicator's Examination. You will learn the basic principles and practices of safe use, handling, and storage of pesticides. Information will be presented about the ground application of pesticides but does not include aerial spraying. Teaching methods include classroom lectures and problem solving exercises and you will write the Pesticide Applicator’s Examination on the last day of the course. The course fee is $375 and the registration deadline is March 31. Course dates are April 14-17 in Bible Hill. (read more)

LIVESTOCK MARKETS STRENGTHENING

Source: FCC
Continued soaring cattle and hog futures on the Chicago Board of Trade have provided some much-needed relief for the western Canadian livestock sector. “The good news is prices are good and they're better than expected,” says Herb Lock of Edmonton’s FarmSense Marketing about cattle values. Tight supplies have helped lift prices, with the United States experiencing the lowest herd numbers since 1952. (read more)

NOVA SCOTIA YOUNG FARMERS ANNUAL MEETING

Source: NSFA
The N.S. Young Farmers will hold their Annual Meeting on April 12 starting at 10 am. The meeting will take place at Big Al's Tavern in Tatamagouche and will feature a Soil Fertility Workshop and a tour of an Earltown goat farm. (read more)

VALLEY GETS AID TO HEAT UP PIE OUTPUT

Source: The Chronicle Herald
Apple Valley Foods Inc. in Kentville is doubling its frozen fruit pie production with $3.5 million in federal and provincial assistance. Canada’s second-largest pie maker is undergoing a $10-million modernization, including installation of a new oven, packaging equipment, freezers and other machinery to increase production. (read more)

WHAT’S IN A NAME? HOW CHEESE BECAME A WEDGE ISSUE IN THE FREE-TRADE ERA

Source: The Globe and Mail
Nothing like a little cheese controversy to nibble away at a nation’s notion of food culture. Americans are raising a stink in reaction to free-trade talks that led the European Union to push for the protection of popular names for cheeses with historical ties to Europe, like Parmesan and Brie. It’s like déjà-vu for cheese-industry stakeholders in Canada. Europeans say that a cheese like feta, for instance, should only come from Greece. The EU argues it “is so closely connected to Greece as to be identified as an inherently Greek product.” (read more)

DAIRY SECTOR: FIND GROWTH IN QUALITY AND NICHE MARKETS

SOURCE: FCC
Canadian dairy producers should set their sights on continuing to serve the domestic market with quality products and pursue valuable niche markets abroad, rather than try competing for low-priced, volume-based export markets in countries such as China. That’s the word from Manitoba dairy farmer David Wiens, a vice-president with the Dairy Farmers of Canada and chair of the Dairy Farmers of Manitoba. He says a report issued last week by the Conference Board of Canada, Reforming Dairy Supply Management: The Case for Growth, is wrong for blaming supply management for lost export opportunities. (read more)

PESTICIDE APPLICATOR’S CERTIFICATION

Source: ThinkFarm
A four-day course in preparation for writing the Pesticide Applicator's Examination. You will learn the basic principles and practices of safe use, handling, and storage of pesticides. Information will be presented about the ground application of pesticides but does not include aerial spraying. Teaching methods include classroom lectures and problem solving exercises and you will write the Pesticide Applicator’s Examination on the last day of the course. The course fee is $375 and the registration deadline is March 31. Course dates are April 14-17 in Bible Hill. (read more)

FISH FARM CULLS COST PUBLIC $138M

Source: The Chronicle Herald
Over two decades, at least $138 million of taxpayer money has compensated Canadian fish farms for sick, culled stocks. All the culls were in Nova Sco­tia, New Brunswick and New­foundland and Labrador. Several East Coast environmental groups joined forces recently to count up the total cost o f all known pay­outs. The pattern in the numbers shows that disease is a built-in part of the aquaculture industry and has shown little improve­ment, said Raymond Plourde of the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax. (read more)

TRICKY TALKS AWAIT NEW NATURAL RESOURCES MINISTER GREG RICKFORD

Source: The Globe and Mail
Greg Rickford will need to call on all his experience working with First Nations to resolve some of the toughest roadblocks in the Conservative government’s plan for energy and mining development. The 46-year-old MP from Kenora, Ont., was appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Wednesday to replace Joe Oliver as Natural Resources Minister. Awaiting him are brewing resource battles in British Columbia and Ontario that are both economically important and fraught with political risks for the government heading into the next election. (read more)

COULD OUR FOOD SUPPLY BE A TARGET FOR TERRORISTS?

Source: NPR
It sounds like the plot of a Hollywood blockbuster: Villains bent on chaos set their sights on a food company – an easy target – with plans to lace its products with a chemical or pathogen. The hero finds out in time to save the day. Sound far-fetched? Not according to U.S. regulators who have been pondering such scenarios. (read more)

12,000 FARMED SALMON DIE IN POWER FAILURE

Source: The Chronicle Herald
About 12,000 market-ready salmon died after a weekend power failure at the Sustainable Fish Farming (Canada) Ltd. land­based aquaculture site in Centre Burlington, Hants County, N.S., an official said Tuesday. “It is a bitterly disappointing setback for our undertaking as we were about to deliver these sal­mon to customers,” chief execut­ive officer Kirk Havercroft said in an interview. (read more)

UPDATE ON AQUACULTURE REGULATION REVIEW

Source: Coastal Coalition of Nova Scotia
The Doelle-Lahey Panel has been tasked with recommending a new regulatory framework for all forms of aquaculture in the province. The Roundtable process has produced a list of issues/elements that it feels need to be addressed in a new regulatory framework. The elements were discussed by the Roundtable at its February 13-14 meeting and an attempt is underway to identify areas of common interest. The Roundtable will prepare a report of its recommendations to the Panel members Professors Meinhard Doelle and William Lahey. (read more)

TRURO STARTUP WEEKEND AGRI-FOOD

Source: NSFA
o you have an idea that may solve a problem for farmers or food consumers? Maybe you can think of a new way to market lamb or to make money from culled fruit? Perhaps it’s an application to track farm employee hours and productivity? Or, maybe you simply have skills you want to apply to help advance innovative ideas for the local agri-food industry? Register by March 23 to secure your seat! (read more)

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: FOOD SECURE CANADA’S 8TH ASSEMBLY

Source: Food Secure Canada
No matter where you stand in the food system or the food movement, we want to hear from you! Co-hosted with the Food Action Research Centre (FoodARC) in collaboration with ACORN and the NS Food Security Network, Canada’s food movement will gather in Halifax this year for its biennial feast of food and ideas – the first in Atlantic Canada! November 13-16, 2014 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. (read more)

ACHIEVING OPTIMUM PASTURE RESULTS

Source: Ont. Ministry of Agriculture and Food
It is at the beginning of the pasture season that you can take the steps to optimize pasture performance on your farm. Pasture is the lowest cost feed source available, and the opportunity for improved production is significant on most farms. A well-managed pasture will be very competitive with any other crop use that you might consider for that land base if the forage and livestock are both well managed with a good rotational system. (read more)

GM CROPS: UK SCIENTISTS CALL FOR NEW TRIALS

Source: BBC
A new report on genetically modified (GM) crops, commissioned by the prime minister, calls for more UK field trials and fewer EU restrictions. The Council for Science and Technology (CST) wants “public good” GM varieties to be grown and tested in the UK. It says GM crops should be assessed individually – like pharmaceuticals – taking potential benefits into account. (read more)

FUNDING AIMS TO HELP PRODUCERS ENHANCE BUSINESS SKILLS

Source: FCC
Farm Management Canada (FMC) has received over $4 million to help them strengthen producers’ business skills and build farm management capacity. A federal news release states FMC will use the funds to deliver leading-edge resources and tools through various print and online channels and by working with provincial and territorial governments and with industry to identify and fill gaps in farm business development information and resources. The investment is made through Growing Forward 2’s AgriCompetitiveness program. (read more)