PLANET IN PERIL

by Larry Powell  At first, I thought I had made a mistake - agreeing to review “Of Poets & Pioneers.”  After all, I’m no poet! The last “poetic gene” in my family seems to have died when my own Grandfather, J.J. Powell passed away in 1953.  But I was soon to discover, one doesn’t need a “poet’s pedigree” to appreciate the values which this work embraces.   Poetry just happens to be the backdrop - a vehicle, if you will - that offers a glimpse into a rare and remarkably close relationship between the author, Bill Massey and his paternal grandfather, “Will.” Bill’s earlier book, “Of Pork and Potatoes,” details the troubled home he grew up in and helps us better understand why his visits with his grandfather, recorded in this one, provided such a precious haven in his own life. Woven between the poetic parts are stories “Grandfather Will” wrote about a sometimes harsh life in a British public school and later about the trials and tribulations he faced as a pioneering farmer in Manitob

The National Observer Pervasive disinformation around Canada’s voluntary fertilizer reduction plan makes it hard to have a rational discussion on this critical topic , Green and NDP MPs say.

The National Observer Last month, a video was posted to Pierre Poilievre's Facebook page accusing the federal government of causing high food prices and driving farmers to ruin. The post on the Tory leader’s page laid the blame on "proposed fertilizer cuts" that would force Canadians into an "irresponsible" reliance on expensive imported food. The video was misleading. Story here.

The National Observer Days after signing a landmark $2.5-billion deal with the provinces and territories to subsidize Canada's farmers, federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau says she was betrayed by a cadre of conservative premiers. The leaders of the three Prairie provinces, who had supported the pact, echoed a far-right disinformation campaign linked to Canada's Freedom Convoy movement telling farmers the feds were going to force them to drastically curb fertilizer use.  Details here.

By Dennis Gruending A PinP photo. A man being described as a “farm czar,” owns 225,000 acres of Saskatchewan farmland. That is equal to the size of about 125 farms based on the average farm size in the province.  Is that what we want for rural Canada? Story here.

A farm fertilizer plant in Brandon, MB. Photo by Larry Powell. SASKATOON, Sask: The National Farmers Union (NFU) recently released a report entitled Nitrogen Fertilizer: Critical Nutrient, Key Farm Input, and Major Environmental Problem.   The report takes a big-picture look at nitrogen fertilizer, details its many benefits and also its negative impacts, and makes the case for optimizing rather than maximizing tonnage.   The report examines the path governments and farmers must navigate as we make our way toward Canada’s 2030 and 2050 greenhouse gas (GHG) emission-reduction commitments.  The report is the NFU’s submission to the federal government’s consultations on its target to reduce fertilizer-related emissions by 30%. GHG emissions from Canadian agriculture and farm input manufacturing are up by one-third since 1990.  The primary cause is rising emissions from nitrogen fertilizer production and use.  Darrin Qualman, NFU Director of Climate Crisis Policy and Action, commented: “The

Biology Dep't. - University of Ottawa Bee on scarlet-runner bean. A PinP photo. Climate change is waking bumblebees earlier from winter hibernation, putting the species at risk with impact on human agricultural crops New research from the University of Ottawa has found the earlier arrival of spring in parts of North America negatively impacts bumblebee survival, which could potentially threaten bee-pollinated agricultural crops and other plant sources. Published in Biological Conservation, this paper is among the first to study climate change’s influence on seasonal weather changes in relation to bumblebees. Researchers from the Faculty of Science found the bees are not correspondingly shifting their activity timing earlier in the year, threatening their ability to find food sources or causing bees to miss out on them altogether. “This study represents crucial groundwork for understanding that climate can impact the seasonal timing of biological events,” says lead author Olga Kopp