Issues in Contemporary Agriculture:
Food

In the News

New Computing Tool Could Lead to Better Crops and Pesticides say Researchers

(Colin Smith, Imperial College London, in BITES-L, September 22, 2009)  A new computing tool that could help scientists predict how plants will react to different environmental conditions in order to create better crops, such as tastier and longer lasting tomatoes, is being developed by researchers.  Read more

Alberta Research Finds Water Efficient Test Crops Performing Well

(Country Guide, August 11, 2009)  Farmers are suffering from drought conditions across much of the western Prairies, but one researcher is finding the tough agricultural times a good test for drought-tolerant crop research. And that, in turn, will benefit farmers in future years of drought.  Read more

Microwave Pasteurization of In-Shell Eggs

Dr. Vijaya Raghavan (James McGill Professor, Department of Bioresource Engineering, McGill University) is directing research with significant importance to the food manufacturing and food service industries, and to consumer health. The traditional method of using heated water-baths to pasteurize in-shell eggs is unsatisfactory because it results in partially cooking the egg. Dr Raghavan's research into using microwave heating to pasteurize whole eggs demonstrated that this new method reduces salmonella contamination, while increasing the shelf-life of the eggs and maintaining their wholesomeness. Presently work is being done to model this process in order to scale it up for commercial applications. This research was made possible through industrial partnership and financial support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. For more information, click here.

Expanding Probiotic Applications

(Debbie Lockrey-Wessel, M.Sc. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Communications, The Epoch Times, February 17, 2009)  In recent years, consumers have begun to look at foods not only for their basic nutrition but also for their health benefits. The Canadian food industry has responded to these demands and introduced a new generation of value-added foods known as "functional foods." Probiotics, prebiotics, and bioactives are common labels on many food products.

Now research at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) could help the industry standardize the way probiotics are used and bring new information to help the government assess probiotic food products. Scientists at AAFC's Food Research Development Centre in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada, are partnering with industry, universities, and clinical researchers to study the nutrition of functional foods and some challenges facing the food industry.   Read more

Centre to Boost Agri-Food Technology Uptake

(Owen Roberts, Farm Credit Canada AgriSuccess Express, December 5, 2008)  Canadian agri-food technologies now have a smoother and more direct route from the laboratory to the field or factory, thanks to a new multi-partner commercialization centre that officially opened its doors in Guelph last week.

The Agri-Technology Commercialization Centre occupies the better part of the second floor of the new Jaral Corporate Centre in the University of Guelph's research park.  Read more

Alberta Livestock Industry Drives New Generation of Trans Fat Research

(CLA Network Press Release, November 19, 2008)  Alberta's livestock industry is investing $2 million to spearhead the next generation of research into the health benefits of natural trans fats.

The funding, awarded through a grant from the Alberta Livestock Industry Development Fund (ALIDF), will support a multi-pronged, five-year natural trans fat research program led by the Alberta Institute for Human Nutrition, University of Alberta.   Read more

Farmer in Chief

A lengthy but interesting essay, Farmer in Chief, a "letter" from Michael Pollan to the President-Elect was published in the October 12, 2008 issue of the New York Times magazine.

B.C. Firm Develops New Soy Protein Ingredient

(Country Guide, November 4, 2008)  Vancouver research and development company Burcon NutraScience has isolated a new soy protein for use in the food and beverage market.

The new isolate, which the company has dubbed Clarisoy, is 100 per cent soluble and is transparent in acidic solutions, allowing it to be used at pH down to 2.5, Burcon said in a release Tuesday.   Read more

Drought Resistant GM Crops Ready 'In Four Years'

(The Guardian, quoted in AgNet, October 8, 2008)   Genetically modified crops that are drought resistant will be grown by farmers within four to five years, according to scientists developing the technology.

Dr David Dennis, the chief executive of Performance Plants Incorporated in Kingston, Ontario, said varieties of drought-tolerant oilseed rape and maize were already being tested in field trials in the US. He claimed the new varieties can increase yield by 40% when the plants are most water-stressed.   Read more

The Future of Engineered Agriculture

(AgNet,March 12, 2008)  The Washington, DC-based research and consulting firm Social Technologies recently released a series of 12 briefs that shed light on the top areas for technology innovation through 2025. The brief on engineered agriculture, by futurist Mark Justman, is the tenth trend in the series.

Engineered agriculture uses the tools of biotechnology to analyze and manipulate plant DNA to create varieties with new or enhanced characteristics, Justman says. "This allows traits developed in other, incompatible plants or even other organisms (e.g., bacteria) to be integrated into the DNA of commercial plant varieties."   Read more

Commentary

Food Safety and the Use of the Agri-Resource Base

by Myles Frosst, CEO

We are and always will be an agrarian society, dependent upon the agriculture resource base to sustain us. Six billion people are increasingly turning to that resource to provide safe and nutritious food as well as, for example, renewable fuels, materials and pharmaceuticals, and carbon sequestration.

Canada, rich with agricultural resources, is especially responsible to ensure that we use the resource base wisely: to sustainably and profitably maximize the societal and commercial benefits that can be derived from that resource, including the production of safe food.   Read more