AG e-news September 25, 2017
News and events from the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences
News and events from the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences
UPCOMING EVENTS
Tuesday, September 26 – A Department of Entomology Seminar will be presented by Dr. John Gavloski, Manitoba Agriculture, on “New and potentially invasive insect pests of field crops in Manitoba”. Refreshments at 10:00 am, seminar begins at 10:10 am sharp in 220 Animal Science/Entomology Building. All are welcome.
Tuesday, September 26 – There will be a Department of Soil Science Ph.D. Thesis Defense presented by Surajum Munira on “Competitive Sorption Interactions of Organic and Inorganic Chemicals in Soils” at 1:00 p.m., Room 346 Ellis Building.
Tuesday, September 26 – There will be a Food and Human Nutritional Sciences Graduate Student Seminar at 3:00 pm in Room 206 Human Ecology Building. Haonan Zhouyao, Human Nutritional Sciences Ph.D. student, will present “The Orphan Gene MFSD14A Encodes a Membrane Transporter Protein Mediating Methylamine Release: Investigation of a Link to Globozoospermia”.
Wednesday, September 27 – There will be a 4-H Meet-n-Greet at 5:30 pm in Room 130 Agriculture Building. Free pizza! Come learn about the 4-H Leaders Club.
Thursday, September 28 – There will be a Food and Human Nutritional Sciences M.Sc. Thesis Defense presented by Chunlei Zhang on “Meat Protein Hydrolysates and their Advanced Glycation End-products as Sources of Bitter Taste Modifiers ” at 9 am in 304 Human Ecology Building.
September 29-30 – The 36th annual Aggie Bedpush will run Friday and Saturday, once again in a variety of communities across Manitoba. A large team of students will push the familiar burgundy bed on wheels through Portage la Prairie, Gladstone, Neepawa, Minnedosa, Boissevain, Killarney, Treherne and Elm Creek – the hometowns of many of the students. The charity supported this year is Children’s Rehabilitation Foundation, a charity is dedicated to helping children and youth with disabilities live as independently as possible. Donations will be accepted along the route of the Bedpush in each of the individual towns, and donations of $15 or more receive a tax receipt. More details about the stops and how to donate online at https://uofmaggies.ca/bedpush/.
Tuesday, October 3 – A Department of Animal Science Seminar will be held in Room 219 Animal Science Building at 10:00 am. Zhigang Tan, MSc student, will be giving an extension talk on “Control of Salmonellosis in poultry industry”. All are welcome to attend.
Tuesday, October 3 – There will be a Food and Human Nutritional Sciences Graduate Student Seminar at 3:00 pm in Room 206 Human Ecology Building. Dr. Carolyn Ross, guest speaker, will present “Sensory science at the human-machine interface”
Wednesday, October 4 – Thermo Fisher Scientific will hold a vendor show in the Animal Science Building from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm.
October 5-6 – The Thursday and Friday preceding Thanksgiving weekend are designated for this year’s Fall Term Break. October 9 is Thanksgiving Day and the University is closed this day. There are no classes during this break period.
Friday, October 6 – Bayer CropScience invites researchers and students to attend an information session from 8:30 am – 10:30 am in EITC E3-262 (Senate Chambers). Learn about the science behind Bayer’s research and product development in crop science; hear about Bayer’s Open Innovation funding and partnering programs; and learn about what it is like to work at Bayer. RSVP by September 27, 2017 to: tto [at] umanitoba [dot] ca
Tuesday, October 10 – A Department of Animal Science Special Seminar will be held in Room 219 Animal Science Building at 10:00 am. Our guest speaker is Kate Yee from the University of Manitoba Career Services, who will be giving a talk on “You job search starts now!”. All are welcome to attend.
Thursday, October 12 – Be Part of the Agri-Food Conversation is a new monthly speaker series is coordinated by the Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre and facilitated by Centre manager Myrna Grahn. Special guest speakers will address an academic and industry audience on timely agriculture and food topics. The new series will also allow for some networking in a casual environment. The first speaker will be Kelley Fitzpatrick, president of NutriScience Solutions, Inc. on the topic “Protein Innovations Canada”. Kelley is a well-recognized expert in numerous areas of Canadian agriculture, health, regulatory and government affairs. Kelley has held roles with Flax Council of Canada and Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals, and holds a M.Sc. in Foods and Nutrition from the University of Manitoba. All presentations take place at 3:00 pm at Barley Brothers Craft Beer Restaurant and Bar, 2005 Pembina Highway. For more information please contact Myrna at ffdc [at] umanitoba [dot] ca or 204-883-2524.
October 14 and 28 – Manitoba Rural Women’s Day is scheduled for October 14 (Minnedosa, MB) and October 28 (Komarno, MB). Learn more at http://www.mbwi.ca/manitoba-rural-womens-day-2017/
Wednesday, October 18 – Thermo Fisher Scientific will hold an educational seminar “Sample Prep: Manual to Automated Methods for Human and Agriculture Applications” in Room 172 Agriculture Building from 12 noon to 1 pm. Refreshments will be provided. Register at http://www.thermofisher.com/eventregistration
Wednesday, October 18 – The second seminar in the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences 2017-2018 Seminar Series will be held at 3:30 pm in the Carolyn Sifton Lecture Theatre, 130 Agriculture Building. Mr. Ian Affleck, Executive Director of Plant Biotechnology at CropLife Canada, will present “Helping Canada Grow”. Refreshments will be served at 3:00 pm in the Atrium. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Wednesday, October 25 – The Canadian Centre for Agri-Food Research in Health and Medicine (CCARM) is hosting a “Rapid-Fire Research Symposium” at St. Boniface Hospital Albrechtsen Research Centre, 351 Tache Avenue, Winnipeg. Abstracts are due by October 1, 2017 at rrs [at] sbrc [dot] ca.
Wednesday, October 25 – The 9th Annual Daryl F. Kraft Lecture will feature Dr. Brady Deaton, professor in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Guelph and the McCain Family Chair in Food Security, at 2:30 pm in the Richardson International Auditorium, Room 172 Agriculture Building. He will present “Land and Water: Issues and Approaches in Canada, First Nations, and Abroad – Conflict and Cooperation in Natural Resource Use: Institutions and Economic Performance”. Coffee will be available at 2:00 pm. All are welcome.
Monday, November 6 – The Department of Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics is hosting an Agricultural Risk Management Workshop all day on November 6 at the Four Points – Winnipeg South. Confirmed speakers include Alan Ker and Richard Vyn (University of Guelph), James Rude (University of Alberta), Charles Grant, Julieta Frank and Janelle Mann (University of Manitoba). The Keystone Agricultural Producers will also be presenting. The workshop is meant for producers, policy analysts and academics interested in agricultural risk management. More details to be posted online soon at www.umanitoba.ca/afs/depts/agribusiness/.
November 13-24 – The Research Institute in Oncology and Hematology are offering two training workshops “Microscopy, Optics and Imaging” on November 13-17 and “3D, Spectral Imaging” on November 20-24. To see the workshop and registration details, visit https://www.umanitoba.ca/institutes/manitoba_institute_cell_biology/MICB/Platforms/GCCRD_Training.html.
Wednesday, December 13 and Thursday, December 14 – The 2017 Manitoba Agronomists Conference themed “Managing Crops to Maintain Markets” will be held in Room 172 Agriculture Building and via webcast. REGISTRATION WILL OPEN WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11 AT 8:30 AM. The cost is $225. Register by December 1 to take advantage of the early bird rate of $185. Registration closes December 8. Register early for Winnipeg as space is limited. Graduate students are invited to attend as well as submit posters. Poster requirements and deadlines as well as registration information are on the MAC website at www.manitobaagronomistsconference.ca. Any inquiries can be directed to the MAC Coordinator, Rachel Sydor at mbagconf [at] umanitoba [dot] ca or 204-474-8473.
STAFF AND STUDENT NEWS
On September 20, the First Year Agriculture Diploma Students from 2016-17 presented their Teacher of the Year Award to Tee Boon Goh, Soil Science. Drew Luhowy and Brent Cardy made the presentation on behalf of the class.
Jason Bourcier has accepted a new position at the Glenlea Research Station as the Livestock Research Coordinator (Technician 4) starting October 1. Jason has been with the Research Station for over 10 years working as an Agricultural Attendant 3 in the swine facility and since January 2016 as the supervisor of the poultry unit. In addition to Jason’s solid livestock experience he also brings a strong business and client service perspective from the private sector. In his new role Jason will deliver coordination of all the livestock research at the Station and oversight to special projects and the on-going safety, quality and environmental programs at Glenlea Research Station.
The Department of Food and Human Nutritional Sciences welcomes Ms. Akkavva Wadakappanavar who has joined Filiz Koksel’s research team as of August 28 for three months. Akkavva is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Agricultural Sciences (Dharwad, India). She is sponsored by the Queen Elizabeth II Scholarship program. During her stay, Akkavva will be pursuing research on functional properties of millet-based snack foods.
Kees Plaizier, Animal Science, attended the annual conference of the European Association of Animal Production held in Tallinn, Estonia, from August 28 to September 1, which was highly focused on precision farming He also presented at a workshop on gut health in cattle at the annual meeting of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners held in Omaha, NE, on September 13.
Many faculty members are presenting at Agricultural Bioscience International Conference (ABIC) 2017 being held in Winnipeg this week. Peter Jones, Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutracueticals, will take part in the plenary session “Nutrigenomics / Nutrigenetics – How our DNA will Shape our Diets in the Future”. Miyoung Suh, Food and Human Nutritional Sciences, will be part of the plenary session “Smart Farms – The Link Between Biotechnology and Enhanced Nutrition”. Jitendra Paliwal will present “Mitigating Food Spoilage: From Plant-growth Stage to Processing Facilities” in the session “Innovations to Decrease Food Loss and Waste Along the Supply Chain”. Ehsan Khafipour, Animal Science, will present the Wednesday breakfast keynote “Toward Future Microbiome Therapy: From Human and Animal Health to the Environment”. Trust Beta, Food and Human Nutritional Sciences, will present “Bridging the Gap between Agriculture and Health: Field, Fork, Function “. Rob Currie, Entomology, will speak on “Protecting Pollinator Health: Science and Policy”. A number of students are also making presentations – http://www.abic.ca/abic2017/pages/student_presentations.html.
The Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre and the Glenlea Research Station hosted a number of events during Farm and Food Awareness Week September 17-24. On Sunday, September 17, nearly 700 people took in Open Farm Day which offered members of the public a chance to see agriculture and food production up close. Amazing Agriculture Adventure, delivered by Agriculture in the Classroom – Manitoba brought over 1000 Grade 4/5 students to Glenlea for an interactive experience. On Friday, the Province of Manitoba declared Local Veggie Day at the Discovery Centre, which was also the host for Kick Off event for the Farm to School Healthy Choices Veggie Fundraiser with the key partners: Peak of the Market, Minister Kelvin Goertzen, Manitoba Association of Home Economists and Manitoba Agriculture in attendance. All of these events could not have happened without the fantastic support of the volunteers who provided their time.
The Faculty was pleased to host two reunion groups on Homecoming Weekend – the Ag Degree Classes of 1962 and 1967. Both groups enjoyed tours of our facilities and some refreshments with Dean Karin Wittenberg as part of their weekend celebrations. As well, Karin and Jim House, Food and Human Nutritional Sciences, were able to visit with the Home Economics Class of 1966.
IN THE NEWS
The Farm and Food Discovery Centre hosted the CTV Morning Live remote on Friday, September 22 to promote the new exhibits. Interviews with FFDC staff Myrna Grahn, Kristen Matwychuk and Jenna Bruneau, as well as Rob Duncan, Plant Science, and Chinweoke Asagwara, Peak of the Market – various clips at http://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1214891; http://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1214946; http://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1215000; http://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1215013.
Rob Duncan, Plant Science, was noted in the Manitoba Co-operator story “U of M plant breeder earns international accolades” (September 15) – https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/news-opinion/news/local/u-of-m-plant-breeder-earns-international-accolades/
David Lobb, Soil Science, was quoted in the article “Degraded soils cost farmers billions annually” in the Manitoba Co-operator (September 19) – https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/crops/degraded-soils-cost-farmers-billions-annually/.
Alumnus Richard Cuthbert, wheat breeder for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, was interviewed by CBC in the story “Sask. farmers beat drought with new wheat varieties ” (September 17) – http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/new-wheat-performs-well-after-dry-sask-summer-1.4293032.
Dylan MacKay, Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals, was interviewed in the article “Researchers In Steinbach As Part Of Provincial Health Study” on SteinbachOnline.com (September 13) – https://steinbachonline.com/local/researchers-in-steinbach-as-part-of-provincial-health-study
Francis Zyuvmoya, Soil Science, was quoted in the CBC story “Soil testing underway for 100 properties in St. Boniface amid contamination concerns” (September 11) – http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/soil-testing-underway-for-100-properties-in-st-boniface-amid-contamination-concerns-1.4284635
PUBLICATIONS
Chen G, Elliott JA, Lobb DA, Flaten DN, Braul L, Wilson HF. 2017. Changes in runoff chemistry and soil fertility after multiple years of cattle winter bale feeding on annual cropland on the Canadian prairies. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 240: 1–13.
Liu Y, Yang X, Xin H, Chen S, YANG C, Duan Y, Yang X. Effects of a protected inclusion of organic acids and essential oils as antibiotic growth promoter alternative on growth performance, intestinal morphology and gut microflora in broilers. Animal Science Journal, 88(9); 1414-1424.
A joint collaboration between the University of Manitoba and the University of Udine in Italy recently showed how ultrasonic techniques could evaluate the quality of bread made from doughs of very widely differing formulation using wheat flours grown in Canada and Italy: Relation between ultrasonic properties, rheology and baking quality for bread doughs of widely differing formulation. Peressini, D; Braunstein, D; Page, JH; Strybulevych, A; Lagazio, C; Scanlon, MG. JOURNAL OF THE SCIENCE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE 97, 2017, 2366-2374.
Pang, Y., Ahmed, S., Xu, Y., Beta, T., Zhu, Z., Shao, Y., and Bao, J. (2018) Bound phenolic compounds and antioxidant properties of whole grain and bran of white, red and black rice. Food Chemistry 240:212-221.
GENERAL NEWS
IMPORTANT NOTE – There is now an AED (automated external defibrillator) device located in the middle of the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals by the elevator. The location of the AED device is on record with the U of M Environment & Health Office and is registered with Heart & Stroke Canada.
This is a reminder that all U of M employees must take the Accessible Customer Service Training by November 1, 2017 to be in compliance with provincial government legislation. The online training module is approximately 35 minutes long and can be done at your own pace. Alternatively, you may sign up for in-person training through LOD. Read more at http://news.umanitoba.ca/accessible-customer-service-training-early-bird-prizes/.