A recent survey was conducted by Friends of the Earth, asking 2,000 Canadians a handful of questions about honey bees and their wild relatives. The question “How concerned are you about the health of honey bees and the conservation of wild, native bees in Canada?” showed that 68 percent of the people surveyed were either concerned or very concerned about the health of Canada’s bees.
The television show Portlandia has a popular skit where two characters ask a server detailed questions about the chicken on the menu. What did the chicken eat? Is it local? Organic? Did it have friends? Was it happy? The server presents a folder of information on “Colin the chicken”.
Interestingly enough, animal biosciences professor Dominique Bureau says that technology isn’t far off from providing this level of detailed information on individual animals.
Waiting in line at a small town coffee shop got Prof. Al Lauzon wondering about the different demographic he was seeing working at this rural Ontario location – more middle aged male workers. Job losses from the auto sector over the last decade could explain some of the changes in this older work force, but Lauzon wondered what was happening to employment opportunities in rural Ontario.
What if dairy farmers could improve their cows’ health and enhance milk’s nutritional quality through understanding their animals’ feeding behaviour?
We know more about mink sexual development thanks to University of Guelph researchers and local mink farmers. It may not be a “romantic” topic for Valentine’s Day, but it is certainly a story about relationships.
Lead researcher Jamie Ahloy Dallaire and Prof. Georgia Mason, Department of Animal Biosciences, found that young male mink who spent more time playing as juveniles showed more vigorous sexual performance as adults.
As a way of ensuring their long-term viability, Ontario’s rural communities should do more to attract and keep newcomers in their municipalities – and a University of Guelph professor has developed some recommendations on how to best do that.
Changing demographics are leaving many rural areas struggling with declining populations, and although immigration is a key solution, most of the province’s immigrants prefer to settle in large urban centres like Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton or London.
Wikipedia’s reputation as a go-to source for information is clear in the English site’s statistics; it receives 7.7 billion page views per month, but is it a reputable source for information?
The information on pet nutrition is certainly much more credible today, thanks to Prof. Kate Shoveller’s pet nutrition class that gathered reputable information on 32 different pet nutrition topics for submission to the site.
There’s a refreshing research project taking root across Ontario that’s set to help grow Ontario’s craft cider industry. University of Guelph researcher John Cline is beginning the third phase of his three-part project that will help build sustainable, value-add opportunities for Ontario’s agri-food sector.
After 10 years of working in the family business, Cassandra Loomans, B.Comm. ’07, is preparing to take the lead.
Many OAC alumni families are working through the difficult process of passing down farmland, ownership of a business or leadership of a company. Succession planning may be awkward at times, but when the two generations (or sometimes three) do it right, the process benefits everyone.
It’s an old saying that holds true for the Chudleigh family. This story of third-generation apple entrepreneurs started in 1939 when Eric and Marion Chudleigh began apple farming in Dixie, ON. Eric imported a new experimental apple rootstock from England and started propagating trees that were size controlled by the rootstock.