• Lifetime Achievement
  • Gesiena Hooijer's sow stall
  • Kurt Preugschas
  • Farm Team-Neudorf Colony
11 08, 2016

Alberta Pork Congress Turns 42

Every challenge presents an opportunity for improvement, Lifetime Achievement winner Jim Haggins said in offering his thanks to the swine industry during the 42nd-Annual Alberta Pork Congress in June.

Chairman of Alberta Pork during some of the industry’s toughest years, Haggins has retired from production and sold his farm, but remains active in various other

11 08, 2016

Proposed changes to Canada’s Food and Drug Regulations

Dr. Leigh Rosengren, a Saskatchewan-based Veterinary Epidemiologist says proposed changes to Canada’s Food and Drug Regulations will increase the oversight and tracking of antimicrobials imported into Canada for use in food animals.

The federal government published its Proposed Changes to the Food and Drug Regulations Related to Antimicrobial Resistance July 2.

Dr. Rosengren, a Veterinary Epidemiologist

11 08, 2016

Ag Minister’s First Ever Ag Consultations a Huge Step Forward

Ag leaders and farmers are hailing the recent consultation with farm and agriculture stakeholders, never before done in recent farming history in Manitoba, a huge step forward.

Dan Mazier, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) says it was especially rewarding to see the variety in turnout, truckers, food processors, farmers, and others at last week’s

  • Mialta Colon7-Olymel Grand Champion
  • A&A VanGinkel Pork-Olymel High Health
  • vanginkle weaners
  • DSC02899
11 08, 2016

High Health Award Extra Special This Year

A Dutch couple who chased their dream to the hill country northeast of Rocky Mountain House has reached an emotional peak after years of struggling through deep and treacherous valleys.

In mid-June, during the awards program for the 2016 Alberta Pork Congress, Olymel procurement manager Don Brookbank presented his company’s High Health Award to Arnold

11 08, 2016

From the publishers desk

Happy Friday! While I am typing this, I’m having a hard time believing that summer is almost half over. School supplies are in the stores and after the long weekend the annual Staples “they’re going back” commercial will once again start too.

Those who know me best know I do not adapt well to change,

1 08, 2016

More Bacon, Continued Western Collaboration

Processing is the key to the hog production engine. Without it, there is no industry. Yes, it does become somewhat of a vicious cycle, without live hogs there is no processing. That is why so many packers have worked hard to establish that partnership with hog farmers, and striving for direct ownership of those

  • raw with apples
  • IMG_2836
  • IMG_2837
  • IMG_2844
9 06, 2016

Apple Cinnamon Pork

Ingredients

3 lb Pork Loin Roast

1 Apple

Cinnamon

Honey

 

Directions

Cut slits into the pork loin roast. Insert slices of apple in side the slits. Place roast in slow cooker. Drizzle with honey. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Cook on low in slow cooker for @ 4-5 hours. Remove from slow cooker and let meat rest for 5 minutes. Slice on

9 06, 2016

Kudos

Genesus Expands Team

Genesus would like to announce Randy Schultz as Sales and Technical Representative in Manitoba. Randy has been with Genesus for about a year and has been Assistant General Manager of Nucleus Operations. In that role he has learned extensively about not only Genesus Nucleus but Multiplication and Customer Operations.

Randy was previously with

9 06, 2016

Pork Chops

Porkapalooza

Alberta Pork is happy to be the title sponsor for the 3rd instalment of Porkapalooza. This year the festival weekend is expanding to encompass a concert series.

What is Porkapalooza you might ask ?  Porkapalooza BBQ Festival is a FREE community event organized by Alberta Pork, Passion for Pork (the domestic marketing arm of Alberta

9 06, 2016

Genetically Engineered Crops the Most Precise Method to Develop New VarietiesRobert Wager is a faculty member, Biology Department, Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo BC. His training is in biochemistry and molecular biology, but is an independent scientist with zero financial connection to the biotechnology industry. Wager’s focus is on genetically engineered research, also educating the public giving many talks, writing articles that explain different aspects of Genetically Engineered (GE) technology. In a recent interview Wager says GE crops are crops where scientists have changed certain traits by moving in DNA from other sources. These crops are very popular with farmers and today over 90 per cent of corn, cotton, soybeans, sugar beets are planted with GE crop varieties in North America, not to mention canola. His message to farmers is to actually stand up and speak directly and supporting what they do. “Farmers would not plant these crops in the acreages that they do unless they believe these crops benefit the environment, and the farmer’s’ bottom line,” he said. “In both these cases, economic and environmental benefits are both well documented for these crops.” What about all the negativity that we’re hearing? Wager says the vast majority of that comes from people who are scared, because they’ve read false information on the internet. Often this false information is put forward by people who are trying to sell alternative products. But it isn’t only coming from those people, is it? “No it’s not,” he said. “Some people have ideological reasons against this type of technology but the reality is agriculture is by definition the manipulation of the DNA of plants and animals to suit our needs. That is what agriculture is. GE technology is just the latest technique and by far the most precise method we’ve ever use to change the DNA of our foods.” Some years ago, scientists even changed insulin from what it was before, to where today it isn’t nearly as allergic to people needing it to give them a normal life. Virtually all the insulin that is on the market now is a genetic engineered product. “They took the human gene for insulin and now grow it up in microorganisms,” said Wager. “In the past we had to isolate the insulin from the pancreas of cows or pigs so there were many issues with cross-reactivity when you are injecting proteins from another species into humans. So now we use just the human protein that is grown up in microorganisms.” What can farmers do because so often they get the short end of the stick? If farmers kept listening and absorbing all that negativity, they would really get concerned about they’re growing. At the same they also often find it difficult to take a stand and speak out. “Farmers traditionally have always worried about farming and are very good at it,” he said. “Canadian farmers are some of the most productive farmers in the entire world. They have concentrated on how to produce the best quality food, and the highest yields, and with the least amount of environmental impact. GE crops have helped in that respect. However today there are large amounts of money being spent to try and convince people GE crops technology is not​in fact good, but bad. We’re talking billions of dollars, which here does buy much influence.” Wager says farmers are finding themselves facing a backlash of people who think they know what the technology is about and farmers are not quite sure how to deal with it. In the past the average person did not care about primary food production, all they cared about was price and quality at the Supermarket. Today people are more interested in how food is actually produced at the primary level. So farmers are faced with questions that they’ve never had to really think about in the past “I would argue farmers know this technology better than anybody because they have used it for 20 years,” he said. “What farmers need to do is tell the public or whoever comes asking questions exactly what they do and why they do it. They don’t need to get into the science because that is debated at another level, they need to talk to the public about why they plant a GE crop in a field and how it has changed the way they farm compared to previous years when these options were not available.” How did Robert Wager get to the point of being so in favour of GE crops? “My training is in the sciences, molecular biology and biochemistry and teaching these techniques to students at the university level for 20 years now,” he says. “When I first started looking into GE crops around 2,000, it was clear most of the information on the net was false and misleading, designed to generate fear, not to educate. So I began a public education program for myself, my area of research, trying to explain the science and the context of this science with respect to all agriculture to the public. Sort of demystify the science and remove the jargon.” • — By Harry Siemens

Robert Wager is a faculty member, Biology Department, Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo BC.

His training is in biochemistry and molecular biology, but is an independent scientist with zero financial connection to the biotechnology industry.

Wager’s focus is on genetically engineered research, also educating the public giving many talks, writing articles that explain different aspects of