Growing Organic Oilseed Pumpkins (Oct 11) - Oilseed pumpkins (Cucurbita pepo pepo Styriaca) have hulless seeds containing 40-50% oil. The crop can produce 0.5-1.4 tonnes/hectare of seeds, which are high in essential fatty acids and Vitamin E. They can be used whole or processed into oil, which contains higher levels of antioxidants than extra virgin olive oil, or oil from walnuts, hemp or sunflowers.
Muskoday reclaims relationship with food (Jun 09) - Members of the Muskoday Organic Farm Cooperative (MOFC) hosted the North American Indigenous Food Symposium (NAIFS) in June 2009, sharing their success and their vision with an enthusiastic crowd bused in from Saskatoon. “We are taking important steps to reclaim our traditional relationship to food” explained Harvey Knight.
Agriculture in the age of declining fossil fuels (Oct 08) - "Every calorie of food produced requires, on average, 10 calories of fossil fuel inputs," writes Richard Heinberg, an American journalist and educator who has written extensively on ecological issues, including oil depletion. "This is a food system profoundly vulnerable, at every level, to fuel shortages and skyrocketing prices." The rapidly rising price of oil is reflected in the increasing costs of all fossil fuel-based agricultural inputs including fuel, fertilizer, pesticides and transportation expenses. This affects all aspects of agriculture.
Illuminating observations from organic inspectors (Feb 06) - Certified organic producers are inspected annually to assure their production and handling methods meet organic standards. The inspectors see many successful practices and many potential problem areas. While they are prohibited from making recommendations at the farms they inspect, the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada recently invited them to share their observations on practices that work consistently on organic farms.
Can organics feed the world? (Dec 05) - We frequently hear that organic production is fine as a niche market for rich folks, but it cannot feed the world. Embedded in this position are a number of myths about the causes of hunger and about organic agriculture.
Bt cotton rejected in India (by Jennifer Bromm May 05) - Three Bt cotton hybrids have been disallowed for cultivation in Andhra Pradesh, India, following reports from farm organizations and release of a three-year study on the agronomy of these varieties and their impact on farmers in the region. The study was released at the Southern Encounters conference in Hyderabad, India, in April.
New program offers on-line organic education (June 04) - Organic agriculture uses an understanding of biological processes instead of chemical inputs. This understanding can be difficult for people who were trained in a different style of management. Learning by experience can be slow and costly. The Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada has responded to this need by developing a collection of web-based courses leading to a Certificate of Specialization in Organic Agriculture.
