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Features

Group of sitting government officials smiling, Tendai sitting with them on the right.

Starting from scratch

"One minute you have it all, and then you find yourself with nothing.”

Tendai Wilkerson didn’t own land in Zimbabwe when the government heated up its land reform policies, but she did lose everything.

Tendai’s employer, HSBC Bank, closed-up shop in the late 1990s over fears that it would not be able to repatriate its profits. Atrained lawyer, she found herself unemployed with no job prospects amid economic collapse.

Three students around a table looking down at papers on the table. Two students sit, one stands

Planning for the future

Our “places” are ever-changing and evolving.

Ensuring that our downtowns, small towns, regions and communities thrive in this change is the concern. How does one go about improving a community in economic, social or cultural ways?

Wendy standing in rice field with green rice plants all around

Bringing rice to Canadian fields

In Grade 10, Wendy Zhang, B.Sc. (Agr.) 2016, M.Sc. 2018, set a goal for herself. She would grow rice in Canada.

Last fall, Wendy harvested her first Canadian rice crop from a 2.5-acre test plot in Chatham Kent, Ont. The pilot project of Ontario FangZheng Agriculture Enterprise Inc. was a terrific success, with an average yield of 6,920 lbs. per acre (or 154 bushels per acre).

Wendy came to Canada from China nine years ago to pursue her bachelor’s degree.

Design rendering of a room with a large cut out of the ceiling and a large honey bee hanging from the opening. People looking up at the bee.

Building a new hive

The University of Guelph’s Honey Bee Research Centre (HBRC) delivers some of the world’s most impactful honey bee research and outreach, and it does so out of a living room.

The world-renowned centre operates out of a residential bungalow built in the 1970s. What was a living room is now a meeting and teaching space, the kitchen is a sales room, and the former bedrooms are offices. The bee yard is scattered across the residential-style lawns. The labs are nearly 2km away.

Head shot of Tyler.

Q&A with an associate advisor

Growing up on a farm in Goderich, Ontario combined with an interest in business led Tyler Durst to the University of Guelph. Durst studied in the food and agricultural business (co-op) program, where he worked at RBC Dominion Securities (DS) for one of his placements. Today, Durst continues to work with RBC DS as an associate advisor. We chatted with Durst to learn more about his role and to recap some highlights from his time on campus.

Expert Offers Tips to Feeding Your Dog a Nutritious Diet

Many dog owners and lovers are confused about what to feed their dogs following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration identifying a possible linkbetween 16 brands of dog food and a potentially deadly canine heart condition.

U of G Study Pinpoints Reasons for Egg Farm Feather Pecking

As Canadian egg farmers transition their flocks from conventional cages to more spacious “furnished” cages, University of Guelph researchers have conducted a first-ever study on factors contributing to feather pecking in this new housing system and ways to prevent it.

The study revealed that 22 per cent of the birds  in the new cages exhibited moderate or severe feather damage that was likely due to feather pecking.

Dave Little standing behnd a red tractor and in front of a log shed

Alumnus brings together a community to restore agricultural history

Logically, we know stepping back in time isn’t possible. But at the O’Hara Mill Homestead in Madoc, Ontario, it seems like it just might be.

When walking through the rural setting of the homestead visitors can see a fully restored sawmill with a dam and covered bridge, a log house, school, carpenter and blacksmith shops, and much more. Visitors step back into the 1800’s and experience agriculture as it was.

Four students stand behind their project.

Students Improving Life: Inventors of Wapples

Food science students, Karine Desrochers, Ellery Geddes and Loritta Lin alongside business student Peter Cline, were grouped together in their fourth-year capstone course, Food Product Development, where they were tasked to utilize pomace, an apple by-product, to create a consumer ready product.

Head shot of Dave Hume.

7 teaching tips for university educators

After over fifty years of undergraduate teaching, Prof. Dave Hume taught his final class in the fall of 2018. He first joined the University in 1966 in the Department of Crop Science, now the Department of Plant Agriculture. In 2005 he retired but has continued to be actively involved in the department as a professor emeritus. Hume is well respected as a researcher, teacher and industry expert. 

We recently chatted with Hume to reflect on his career and specifically his years of teaching. We wanted to know if he had any tips to share for other university instructors and educators.

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