Minister of Agriculture Refuses to Release the Annual Report of the Canadian Wheat Board.

Manitoba Co-Operator

PinP photo.

The Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board suspects the report is too politically sensitive to be made public. Story here.

"The Invasive Species Council of Manitoba," Canada, Declares (another) War on Weeds

Manitoba Co-Operator

P in P photo.

New weed spotters’ workshops are designed to educate public and raise awareness. Story here.

Related: "Dangerous Ditches. Manitoba’s 'war on weeds' comes complete with powerful herbicides, questionable spraying practices and collateral damage."

The Coming Climate Revolt

OpEd News - Chris Hedges

We have undergone a transformation during the last few decades -- what John Ralston Saul calls a corporate coup d'etat in slow motion. We are no longer a capitalist democracy…Story here.

New GMO Pesticide Doctors Are Warning Against

The Dr. Oz Show

Click here to watch this "must-watch" video!

Related: "Do Manitoba's Elected Politicians Care About the Health of Their People? A Food Safety Advocate Wonders...The politicians are "no-shows" at a series of summer speaking events." 

Blogger Responds to Accusations from CropLife Canada (Letter)

Dear Editor,

So, I see the head of CropLife Canada, Ted Menzies, thinks I used "inflammatory" language in a recent story I wrote. It posed this question. "Is agriculture's toxic hold on nature turning into a death grip?" The story went on to quote scientific studies which link "neonicotinoids," a group of insecticides, to widespread declines in populations of both honeybees and songbirds. ("Neonics" are made by some of the world's biggest chemical companies that he now represents.)

Excuse me, Mr. Menzies, if my headline sounded "inflammatory." But, if Canadians themselves are not yet "inflamed" by the impact your products are having on our natural world, perhaps it's time they should be!

Every school kid must know by now what a calamity it would be if we lose our pollinators. Bees make our lives universally sweet while helping produce one of every three spoons-full of food we put in our mouths! 

Songbirds may not figure in the business plans of your member corporations like Bayer, Monsanto or Syngenta. But they add colour and beauty to our lives in ways that fat bottom lines never will. And God forbid they are not actually "canaries in the coal-mine," warning us of dangers these "Croplife" products may pose to human health down the road, too!

Mr. Menzies, you also suggest my story is inaccurate. Then you go on to claim that chemical crops yield more. That, Sir, is, in and of itself, highly questionable.The Rodale Institute in the States has done the longest study anywhere on that very topic. After an initial lag, organic crops yield just as well or better than the GMO kind which need to be carpet-bombed with pesticides. Also, contrary to industry propaganda, the explosion in GMO crops around the world has not resulted in a reduction in pesticide use - but rather a dramatic increase in the volumes applied each year!

You claim that Health Canada subjects pesticides to "rigorous scientific review."  A fascinating choice of words, indeed. Because they are identical to the ones H/C has used for years to defend its continued approval of similar, questionable products in past! Not surprising, considering that the line between regulators and the regulated has been blurred, if not invisible in Canada, for a very long time. (Mr. Menzies was a Conservative MP for 10 years before moving to his present position.) The Sierra Club of Canada wants the House of Commons to look into the possibility of a conflict-of-interest in CropLife Canada's future dealings with the Government of Canada. I believe it should!

My biggest fear is that "neonics," now the world's most widely-used insecticides, may one day come to rival DDT in their infamy. And that's saying a lot. It has been half-a-century since Rachel Carson (in her book, Silent Spring), exposed DDT as the culprit in the massive die-offs of fish and birds and its insidious ability to accumulate dangerously in human tissue. (And recent events seem to indicate,  far from overstating the case against DDT, Ms. Carson may have actually understated it! Another, recent research study has exposed DDT as being harmful in ways never imagined in her time! I'll be telling that story soon, too, to as many people as will listen! (I'll be sure to send you a copy, too, Mr. Menzies.) Stay tuned! 

Ms. Carson had to endure a pricey propaganda campaign launched in the 60s by some of the same corporations CropLife now represents, aimed at sullying her reputation. They failed.

Fast forward to today and we find Mr. Menzies trying to do the same thing to a veteran scientist who is now trying to raise alarm bells over the pesticide, glyphosate. Without providing any proof, Mr. Menzies magically declares "all" of the research the scientist has cited"has been discredited!"

Larry Powell lives in Neepawa, MB where he publishes PlanetInPeril.

As Climate Change Debate Heats Up, UN Experts Warn ‘We Are Running Out of Time’

United Nations News Service

The United Nations weather agency today voiced concerns over the surge of carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere, which has reached a new record high in 2013, amid worrying sings that oceans and biosphere seem unable to soak up emissions as quickly as they used to. Story here.

The oceans of the world absorb massive amounts of heat, 

delaying the worst effects of climate change on land. P in P photo.

Manitoba Bee Mortality Down

Manitoba Co-Operator

Bee mortality in Manitoba varied greatly from region to region last winter, but most honey producers saw improvements. Story here.

P in P photo.