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AG e-news August 16, 2019

News and events from the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences

August 16, 2019 — 

News and events from the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences

UPCOMING EVENTS

Saturday, August 17 – Join us for Diggin’ in the Dirt as part of Family Fun Days at the Farm and Food Discovery Centre. Explore what’s happening in the soil that grows our food! Investigate the life in a handful of soil and eat some ‘Dirt Pie’! No pre-registration required, activities between 10:00 am – 2:00 pm. Cost: $5.00 plus GST per person ages 5+, $3.50 plus GST per child 3-4 years old. For more information, please contact our Discovery Centre Coordinator at (204) 883-2524 or ffdc [at] umanitoba [dot] ca.  To see all the Family Fun Days events, visit https://umanitoba.ca/faculties/afs/discovery_centre/events.html.

Thursday, August 22 – There is an NFL game at Investors’ Group Field. Parking restrictions will be in effect most parking lots starting at 6:00 pm. Complete details about alternate parking locations and other event dates are listed at http://umanitoba.ca/parking/igf.html.

Saturday, August 24 – The last summer event at the  Farm and Food Discovery Centre is Pizza Party! Mix, knead and roll out your own pizza dough before topping it with some delicious local ingredients! Pre-registration required, activities between 10:00 am – 2:00 pm. Cost: $5.00 plus GST per person ages 5+, $3.50 plus GST per child 3-4 years old. For more information, please contact our Discovery Centre Coordinator at (204) 883-2524 or ffdc [at] umanitoba [dot] ca.  To see all the Family Fun Days events, visit https://umanitoba.ca/faculties/afs/discovery_centre/events.html.

Tuesday, September 3 – Welcome new students as they discover the Fort Garry campus, their classroom locations and each other during Fall Orientation. Classes begin for degree students on Wednesday, September 4. For Diploma students, Orientation will be Wednesday, September 18 with classes starting on September 19.

Thursday, September 12 – The first seminar in the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences 2019-2020 Seminar Series will be held at 3:30 pm in the Carolyn Sifton Lecture Theatre, 130 Agriculture Building. Dr. Steve Marcroft, Marcroft Grains Pathology, will present “The Australian story  of blackleg in canola; from crop destruction to 4 million tonnes”.  Refreshments will be served at 3:00 pm in the Atrium. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Sunday, September 15 – Get your family and friends together and head out for an Open Farm Day experience at the Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre. Come see where your food comes from! Our research farm offers a look through windows at pigs and piglets in a working hog barn. Jump on the farm tractor and trolley to tour the new dairy barn. Try your hand at making ice cream and check out all the exhibits in the Discovery Centre. Manitoba Pork will offer a free pork-on-a-bun lunch at midday until supply is gone. For more information, call 204-883-2524 or email ffdc [at] umanitoba [dot] ca.

September 16-29University of Manitoba Homecoming 2019 activities include the Desautels Faculty of Music Homecoming Concert, grand opening of the Stanley Pauley Engineering Building, Indigenous Homecoming events, Tailgate Carnival and Bisons football game versus the UBC Thunderbirds, and UMSU Centennial Celebrations. A complete listing of Homecoming 2019 events can be found at www.umanitoba.ca/homecoming.

October 27-29 – The Advancing Women in Agriculture – East conference takes place at Niagara Falls, ON, and is aimed at everyone from the university student studying agriculture, to the producer, from the entrepreneur to the representative of a grower association or corporate agribusiness. There are student sponsorships available – visit https://www.advancingwomenconference.ca/2019east/student-program/ to learn more about how to apply (deadline September 10). For the program and general registration information visit  https://www.advancingwomenconference.ca/2019east/.

 

STAFF AND STUDENT NEWS

Dilantha Fernando, Plant Science was elected a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society (APS) August 4 in Cleveland, Ohio. Dilantha was elected a Fellow for his global contributions and excellence in research, teaching and service. In addition APS recognized his vast contributions to high quality student and HQP training. APS is the premier plant pathology society in the world and the Fellow Award is one of the highest recognition awards. Dilantha is also the first professor and scientist from the University of Manitoba to receive this award in the society’s 105-year history. The citation for the award can be found at: https://www.apsnet.org/members/give-awards/awards/Pages/Dilantha-Fernando-.aspx.

We are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2019 Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences Support Staff Awards – Kimberley Stefaniuk, Confidential Assistant to the Dean, and Charlene Hawryluk, Office Assistant in Animal Science/Glenlea Research Station.  All nominees, including Erika Hart, Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics; Justin Bouchard, Student Services/Dean’s Office; Heather Innis, Mandy Tanner and Nammy Nadarajah, Biosystems Engineering; Rachel Sydor, Gisele Perrault, Mya Kraft and Crystal Jorgenson, School of Agriculture/Dean’s Office; and Ralph Kowatsch, Plant Science,  along with their nominators were acknowledged at an Animal Science BBQ. Congratulations to each of you – your support helps make the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences an outstanding workplace!

Jitendra Paliwal, Biosystems Engineering, spent a month from June 15- July 15 at the Dip.to di Scienze Agrarie degli Alimenti e dell’Ambiente, Università di Foggia, Italy. There he worked with researchers working in the area of post-harvest quality preservation of vegetables. He also taught a short course on Multivariate Data Analysis and conducted a workshop on Technical Communication.

Ali Salimi Khorshidi, research associate in Food and Human Nutritional Sciences, made an oral presentation at the 1st international wheat congress (2019 IWC) which was held in Saskatoon July 21-26. The presentation “Asparagine content of Canadian wheat: Counteracting a commercial threat” noted the results of Asparagine content of western Canadian wheat as well as an introduction to the $0.98 Million project “Mitigating free asparagine, Acrylamide precursor” on Canadian wheat asparagine mitigation strategies for the first time. This project is sponsored by the Manitoba government through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) as well as six industrial partners across Canada prairie provinces (MB, SK, AB). The co-authors of the paper were Adam Dyck, John Waterer, Nancy Ames, Lovemore Malunga, Linda Malcolmson, Richard Cuthbert, Elaine Sopiwnyk and Martin Scanlon.

Jacob Harvey, a grade 12 student from Grant Park High School, won third prize at the prestigious Sanofi Biogenius Canada national competition in May for his research project examining the production of biodegradable, environmentally-friendly plastic, with the support of mentor Nazim Cicek, Biosystems Engineering- read more about the competition at https://biotechnologyfocus.ca/sanofi-biogenius-canada-competition-awards-winner-with-top-honours/

 

IN THE NEWS

Alum Andreas Zinn was featured in the article “Free-range farmer benefits from raising animals the old-fashioned way” in the Manitoba Co-operator (August 12) – https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/livestock/free-range-farmer-benefits-from-raising-animals-the-old-fashioned-way/

Lanny Gardiner, M.Sc. student in Soil Science, was quoted in the article “Busting nitrogen loss with late in-crop application” in Manitoba Co-operator (August 9) – https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/crops/busting-nitrogen-loss-with-late-in-crop-application/

The Agronomist-in-Residence program, led by Kristen MacMillan, was featured on UM Today (August 7) in the article “A Practical Alliance” – https://news.umanitoba.ca/a-practical-alliance/.

Amy Mangin, Ph.D. student in Plant Science, was interviewed by RealAgriculture in the story “If lodging is the risk, tillers may be the answer” – watch the interview at https://www.realagriculture.com/2019/08/if-lodging-is-the-risk-tillers-may-be-the-answer/.

Francis Zvumoya, Soil Science, was featured in a video interview in “Soil stewardship event digs into soil health” in the Manitoba Co-operator (August 2) – https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/news-opinion/news/local/video-soil-stewardship-event-in-carman-digs-into-soil-health/ and in the article “Soil degradation a costly global issue” (August 12) – https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/crops/soil-degradation-a-costly-global-issue/

Rob Gulden, Plant Science, was quoted in the story “How a Canadian farmer plans to kill weeds by blowing off a little steam” on CBC News (August 3)- https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/steam-weeds-innovation-1.5225107

Michele Rogalsky and Colin Penner, School of Agriculture, and recent diploma alum Samantha Van Hulle were interviewed in the article “Does Canada have enough young farmers?” in Country Guide (July 31) – https://www.country-guide.ca/guide-business/does-canada-have-enough-young-farmers/

Married alumni Rauri Qually and Pam Bailey were interviewed in “Volunteerism keeps loneliness at bay for young farm couple” in the Manitoba Co-operator (July 31) about their passion for the farm life – https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/news-opinion/news/local/volunteerism-keeps-loneliness-at-bay-for-young-farm-couple/

Alum Fiona Jochum was featured in the article “Young Manitoba farmer right where she wants to be — working beside her dad on the family farm” in the Manitoba Co-operator (July 30) – https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/news-opinion/news/local/young-manitoba-farmer-right-where-she-wants-to-be-working-beside-her-dad-on-the-family-farm/.

Martin Scanlon, Dean, wrote the article “Redefining the kilogram means redefining how we measure wealth” for Conversation Canada (July 29) – https://theconversation.com/redefining-the-kilogram-means-redefining-how-we-measure-wealth-117713

Jordan Bannerman, Entomology, was interviewed in the Winnipeg Free Press article “That sticky goop covering your car? It’s aphid poop” (July 26) – https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/dry-hot-aphid-doo-sticky-summersticky-goo-thats-aphid-poo-513252892.html

JoAnne Buth, alumna and one of the newest inductees in the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame, was featured in the article “JoAnne Buth: a life in agriculture” in the Manitoba Co-operator (July 23) – https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/news-opinion/news/joanne-buth-a-life-in-agriculture/

 

PUBLICATIONS

The Glenlea long-term organic vs conventional crop production study is 28 years old.  Here is the 16th paper from the study.  Tandra D. Fraser, Derek H. Lynch, Ivan P. O’Halloran, R. Paul Voroney, Martin H. Entz, Kari E. Dunfield  2019.  Soil phosphorus bioavailability as influenced by long-term management and applied phosphorus source.  Canadian Journal of Soil Science, https://doi.org/10.1139/cjss-2018-0075

Thiessen Martens, J.R., D.H. Lynch and M.H. Entz. 2019.  A survey of green manure productivity on dryland organic grain farms in the eastern prairie region of Canada.  Canadian Journal of Plant Science https://doi.org/10.1139/CJPS-2018-0311

 

GENERAL NEWS

Looking to ‘give back’ to the ag community? The Agriculture Mentorship Program, run through the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, is recruiting ag women professionals to mentor female diploma, degree and grad students. Share your life experiences with a young woman about to enter the industry while networking with other professionals at two evening events held between October 2019 and April 2020. Details and application link can be found at http://cwse-prairies.ca/pages/mentorship/mentorship.php or contact siobhan [dot] maas [at] umanitoba [dot] ca.  Mentor applications close September 17. Students can apply until September 22.

Volunteers Needed! The Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre needs some extra hands for Open Farm Day on September 15. Volunteer duties would include meeter/greeters, activity station staff, and parking assistants. For more information or to secure your volunteer spot, contact Kristen Matwychuk at ffdc [at] umanitoba [dot] ca or call 204-883-2524.

The Department of Soil Science invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track position in the rank of Assistant Professor in any discipline of Soil Science. Deadline to apply is August 26, 2019. For complete details visit https://viprecprod.ad.umanitoba.ca/default.aspx?REQ_ID=07879&Language=1.

Agriculture in the Classroom invites you to volunteer at their upcoming Amazing Agriculture Adventure (AAA) in Winnipeg, September 17-19, 2019. The Winnipeg event is held between two venues, Richardson International’s Kelburn Farm and the University of Manitoba’s Farm and Food Discovery Centre, and the Faculty’s Glenlea Research Station. The AAA is a hands-on and interactive event geared towards Grade 4 and Grade 5 science curriculum. Time commitment is approximately 8:30 am to 2:30 pm. They will need class hosts on each of the three days to tour the students and teachers through the interactive stations. In addition, they need volunteers to help manage the various stations. To volunteer, please register online at https://www.aitc.mb.ca/get-involved/volunteers/winnipeg-aaa-volunteers-needed/.

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