AG e-news January 22, 2020
News and events from the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences
UPCOMING EVENTS
Wednesday, January 22 – The Soil Science Seminar Series will feature Marcos Cordeiro, Biosystems Engineering, who will present “Agro-Ecosystems Modelling: Trends, Challenges and Future Directions” at 12:30 pm, in 346 Ellis Building.
Wednesday, January 22 – The Department of Animal Science Special Presentations for Candidate for Assistant Professor position will feature Dr. Juan Hernandez-Medrano with a Lecture Presentation at 1:30 pm in 107 Animal Science/Entomology Building on topics related to ANSC 3530 The Animal and Its Environment. Then at 2:30 pm in the same room, Dr. Hernandez-Medrano will present a Research Seminar on “Cattle Maternal Nutrition Pre and Post-Conception and its Effects on Offspring Development and Production Sustainability”.
Wednesday, January 22 – The fourth seminar in the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences Seminar Series will be presented by Carla Taylor, Food and Human Nutritional Sciences, at 3:30 pm in the Carolyn Sifton Theatre, Rm 130 Agriculture Building. Topic is “Pulses for Your Pulse, Fats for Your Fat”. Refreshments at 3:00 pm in the atrium.
Thursday, January 23 – Manitoba Ag Days features a number of speaker sessions and on Thursday, there are presentations by Alejandro Costamagna, Entomology, Yvonne Lawley, Plant Science, Don Flaten and Marla Meikman, Soil Science. See the complete schedule at https://www.agdays.com/schedule/
Thursday, January 23 – A special presentation is planned by Mario Tenuta, Soil Science, at the Centro Caboto Centre from 7 pm to 9 pm on “A Mediterranean Diet Is Good For Your Health, Is It Good For The Environment?”. Mario will explore if adhering to a Mediterranean diet in Canada makes ecological sense. The tool of life-cycle analysis (LCA) will be used to compare ecological footprint indices of greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and land use between a Mediterranean and Western diet in Canada. This presentation is free and open to the public.
Tuesday, January 28 – A Department of Entomology Seminar will be presented by Valerie Williams, CPHR, CCIP, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Facilitator Human Resources, University of Manitoba on “Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) at the U of M; what it means, why it is important and what we are doing” . Refreshments at 10:00 am, seminar begins at 10:10 am sharp in 220 Animal Science/Entomology Building. All are welcome.
Thursday, January 30 – There will be an Advanced Plant Science Seminar on “Investigating the Role of Jasmonates and its Interaction with Gibberellin and Abscisic Acid in Regulating Wheat Seed Dormancy and Germination” presented by Tran Nguyen, Ph.D. Student, Department of Plant Science, University of Manitoba. Seminar will be held at 3:30 pm in the Carolyn Sifton Lecture Theatre, 130 Agriculture Building. Coffee at 3 p.m. Everyone welcome!
February 5-6 – The Manitoba Swine Seminar is taking place at the Victoria In Hotel & Convention Centre in Winnipeg. This annual meeting brings together those in the swine industry and features speakers on a variety of topics. Mario Tenuta, Soil Science, will be presenting on the topic “Canadian Pig Production Practices Survey for Improved Economic and Environmental Viability”. The MSS organizing committee includes Martin Nyachoti and Chengbo Yang, Animal Science. Learn more at http://manitobaswineseminar.com/.
Thursday, February 6 – There will be an Advanced Plant Science Seminar on “Establishment of Habitat Conservation for Ecosystem Services in Agriculturally Dominated Lands” presented by Farnaz Kordbacheh, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Plant Science, University of Manitoba. Seminar will be held at 3:30 pm in the Carolyn Sifton Lecture Theatre, 130 Agriculture Building. Coffee at 3 p.m. Everyone welcome!
Thursday, February 6 – The Robert and Elizabeth Knight Distinguished Visiting Lecture will be delivered this year by Dr. Robin DiAngelo, University of Washington, on the topic “White fragility: Why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism” from 3 pm-5 pm in the Investors Group Athletic Centre (with livestreaming at the Frederic Gaspard Theatre, Bannatyne Campus). Doors open at 2 pm, rush seating. RSVP is required by emailing rsvp [at] umanitoba [dot] ca – please indicate which location you will be attending.
February 6-7 – The 2020 Manitoba Soil Science Society Annual General Meeting will be held at the Holiday Inn South, 1330 Pembina Hwy, Winnipeg. Details are available at https://www.mbsoils.ca/event/annual-general-meeting/.
Tuesday, February 11 – The Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre is celebrating Canada’s Agriculture Day with a special event – Coffee on the Farm for Seniors. Do you know a group of seniors who would like to tour a Manitoba farm close to Winnipeg? Tour will include the FFDC and the new Dairy Farmers of Manitoba Discovery and Learning Comples. Bookings available for 10 am – 12noon or 1 pm to 3 pm. Cost $6.50 per person, and includes coffee and snacks. Email ffdc [at] umanitoba [dot] ca or call 204-883-2524 today.
Tuesday, February 11 – A Department of Entomology Seminar will be presented by Dr. Chaminda Weeraddana, Department of Entomology, University of Manitoba on “Abiotic and biotic factors influencing host-plant use of a generalist herbivore, bertha armyworm, Mamestra configurata Walker (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) on canola.” . Refreshments at 10:00 am, seminar begins at 10:10 am sharp in 220 Animal Science/Entomology Building. All are welcome.
Thursday, February 13 – There will be an Advanced Plant Science Seminar on “Agricultural Options for Sustainable Crop Production and Soil Management Under Climate Change” presented by Taras Lychuk, Research Scientist Brandon Research & Development Center Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada Brandon MB . Seminar will be held at 3:30 pm in the Carolyn Sifton Lecture Theatre, 130 Agriculture Building. Coffee at 3 p.m. Everyone welcome!
Tuesday, February 25 – A Department of Entomology Seminar will be presented by Dr. Pedro Peres Neto, Professor & Canada Research Chair in Spatial Ecology and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Concordia University on “What controls which species where? Space, time and future”. Refreshments at 10:00 am, seminar begins at 10:10 am sharp in 220 Animal Science/Entomology Building. All are welcome.
Tuesday, February 25 – The Department of Animal Science will be hosting a Special Seminar in honour of Dr. T. K. Cheung, a former student of the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences who has made significant contributions to the Department of Animal Science. Our guest speaker this year is Dr. Michael H. Kogut, USDA Agricultural Research Service who will be giving a talk in 219 Animal Science Building at 11:30 am. The title of his talk is “Gut Health: The Paradigm in Animal Health and Disease”. All are welcome to attend.
February 25-27 – The 7th Native Prairie Restoration/Reclamation Workshop and 5th Transboundary Grasslands Partnership Workshop will feature plenary sessions, break out sessions, case studies, trade show, a poster session and more. Topics include species at risk, habitat restoration invasive species, industry reclamation, remediation, soils, native seeds, public engagement, urban and wetland restoration, weed management and more. Spaces are limited this year and they expect to fill up. Registration fees include coffee breaks, lunches and more. Visit https://www.pcap-sk.org/upcoming-events/native-prairie-restorationreclamation-workshop-2020.
Thursday, February 27 – A Department of Entomology Seminar will be presented by Dr. Frank Rinkevich, USDA ARS, Baton Rouge, Louisiana on “Varroa and Pesticides: A Battle for Honey Bee Colony Survival” Refreshmen.ts at 10:00 am, seminar begins at 10:10 am sharp in 220 Animal Science/Entomology Building. All are welcome.
Wednesday, March 4 – Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development is hosting a Learn and Lead Seminar – Human Resources and the Board at the Riverbank Discovery Centre in Brandon. The daylong event will help participants identify human resource factors that affect agriculture organizations, and will feature multiple speaker sessions. More details at https://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/industry-leadership/pubs/hr-learn-and-lead-seminar-mar-20.pdf. Register by February 26. There is a registration fee of $50 per person, which includes lunch and nutrition breaks. Reserve your spot today by emailing leadership [at] gov [dot] mb [dot] ca or by calling at 204-762-2702.
March 5-6 – The 2020 Prairie Organics: Think Whole Farm conference coming up in Brandon, Manitoba will highlight two full days of presentations, a large tradeshow and pre-arranged B2B meetings. Early-bird registration is now open. For more information you can email prairieorganicconference [at] gmail [dot] com or visit https://www.prairieorganics.org/.
June 3 to 5 – The Canadian Food Summit themed “Called to the Table – Ideas to Action” will be at the Delta Hotel in downtown Winnipeg hosted by the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST). At this summit, responding to the Senate Report on Agri-food and the Economic Strategy Tables, the aim is to build a collaborative strategy to use our national food science community to meet these challenges and grow Canadian food’s presence in the world. More details at www.cifst.ca/annual-conference-2020.
STAFF AND STUDENT NEWS
Emma McGeough, Animal Science, was named as a committee member of the newly appointed Manitoba Protein Consortium, announced yesterday by Agriculture and Resource Development Minister Blaine Pedersen. The group will provide leadership on projects of strategic importance and encourage stakeholders to continue actions to implement the Manitoba Protein Advantage strategy. Several other Faculty alumni and colleagues are also committee members. Read more at https://news.gov.mb.ca/news/index.html?item=46740&posted=2020-01-21.
Ryan Cardwell and Derek Brewin, Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics, are presenting at the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society Policy Conference on January 23 and 24. Derek is part of panel on “Benefits & Risks of Trade with China?” and Ryan is serving on a panel discussion entitled “CJAE: Peer-Review Research: Meaning and Matters for Canadian Policy”. See: https://caes-scae.ca/canadian-agri-food-policy-conference/program/
Chengbo Yang, Animal Science, was an invited speaker and a panelist at the Session 5: Innovative Drugs, Chemicals, and Enzymes at the 3rd International Symposium on Alternatives to Antibiotics (ATA) – Challenges and Solutions in Animal Production, Bangkok, Thailand on December 16-18 (https://www.ars.usda.gov/alternativestoantibiotics/Symposium2019/index.html). Chengbo’s presentation was titled “Organic acids as antibiotic alternatives in monogastric animals” and his talk was well received by around 600 delegates. Chengbo also presented two posters entitled “A paper-based microfluidic device (DON-Chip) for rapid and low-cost deoxynivalenol quantification in food, feed and feed ingredient” and “Eugenol attenuates inflammatory responses and enhances barrier functions during lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation in porcine intestinal epithelial (IPEC-J2) cells”, respectively. This symposium was organized by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Chulalongkorn University (Thailand), Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (Thailand) and Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau with support from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). Chengbo was a member of the Steering Committee and Scientific Committee of the symposium and Chengbo chaired the seminar in Session 5.
The Hon. Blaine Pedersen, Minister of Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development, visited the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals on January 9. He toured the Centre meeting faculty, staff and students, and after the tour FAFS representatives Martin Scanlon, Annemieke Farenhorst, Jim House, Rotimi Aluko, Semone Myrie and Michael Janzen discussed how the Centre and Faculty can meet the training, research and innovation goals of the department. https://twitter.com/RCFFN196/status/1215328548329644032
First year Diploma in Agriculture student Joryn Buchanan had the experience of a lifetime last fall when he was selected to represent 4-H Manitoba at the Future Farmers of America convention. Joryn presented about his trip at Manitoba Ag Day this week. Read more at https://news.umanitoba.ca/the-future-looks-bright-for-those-with-passion-for-agriculture/.
As we move into the new year, the Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre (FFDC) shared some highlights from a very successful 2019. They reported over 8000 visitors in 2019, comprised of 43% school groups, 25% public, 18% community groups, 8% university, and 5% industry. In total, it surpassed 50,000 visitors since opening in 2011. The FFDC hosted a number of special events in 2019 including a funding announcement made by Premier Brian Pallister in October. The FFDC hosted international delegates and guests from Japan, Mexico, India, United States of America, and China. The FFDC also launched the first set of Careers in Agriculture and Food video series, featuring testimonials from . Began the “Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre Partners” group where FFDC staff, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences Staff, and agriculture industry meet quarterly to plan joint events as well as share information on new initiatives, projects, events and resources. The Partners group collaborated to run the first annual Food From the Land day where high school students rotated through industry based stations about farming and food production.
IN THE NEWS
Janice Goldsborough, HR instructor with the School of Agriculture, was quoted in the article “Crafting a new human resources plan for your farm” in Country Guide (January 20). The article highlights the “Intro to HR” course taught by Janice. – https://www.country-guide.ca/guide-business/crafting-a-new-human-resources-plan-for-your-farm/.
Spencer Myers with the Manitoba Co-operator visited the University of Manitoba Career Fair last week to chat with employers about what they are looking for in potential employees interested in the agri-food industry – https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/video/prepping-the-next-generation-of-agriculture-professionals/.
Yvonne Lawley, Plant Science, was quoted in “Cover crops may buffer bad spring in 2020” in the Manitoba Co-operator (January 14) – https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/news-opinion/news/cover-crops-may-buffer-bad-spring-in-2020/.
Yvonne was also quoted in the article “A cover crop cocktail?” in the Manitoba Co-operator (January 9) – https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/news-opinion/news/a-cover-cropcocktail/.
Yvonne’s call for grower input was also highlighted in the article in “Western Canada field crop surveys seek grower input” in Top Crop Manager (January 15) – https://www.topcropmanager.com/western-canada-field-crop-surveys-seek-grower-input/
Megan Bourns, recent alumna and agronomist with Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers, was quoted in the article “On-farm research can best answer producer questions” in the Manitoba Co-operator (January 9) – https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/news-opinion/news/fielding-questions/.
Jitendra Paliwal, Associate Dean and Biosystems Engineering, wrote the President’s Message for The Keystone Professional, the publication for the Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba (Winter 2019) – reprinted in UM Today at https://news.umanitoba.ca/congratulations-jitendra-paliwal/.
Mario Tenuta, Soil Science, was quoted in the article “Forewarned is forearmed: Soybean cyst nematode in Manitoba” in Top Crop Manager (December 27) – https://www.topcropmanager.com/forewarned-is-forearmed-soybean-cyst-nematode-in-manitoba/
Don Flaten, Soil Science, was quoted in the article “Precision ag = sustainable ag?” in the Western Producer (December 26) – https://www.producer.com/2019/12/precision-ag-sustainable-ag/
PUBLICATIONS
Ávila, S., Lazzarotto, M., Hornung, P.S., Teixeira, G.L., Ito, V.C., Bellettini, M.B., Beux, M.R., Beta, T. and Ribani, R.H. (2019) Influence of stingless bee genus (Scaptotrigona and Melipona) on the mineral content, physicochemical and microbiological properties of honey. Journal of Food Science and Technology 56 (10):4742-4748. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-019-03939-8
Chilton, N.B, P.S. Curry, L.R. Lindsay, K. Rochon, T.J. Lysyk, S.J. Dergousoff. 2020.Passive and active surveillance for Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) in Saskatchewan, Canada. Journal of Medical Entomology 57(1):156-163 https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjz155
GENERAL NEWS
The Faculty is seeking applicants for two academics positions: an Assistant Professor in soil fertility and agronomy, and an Assistant/Associate Professor in cereal breeding and genetics. Deadline to apply for both positions in January 31. Links to both positions available at https://news.umanitoba.ca/new-academic-jobs-december-18-2019/.
There is a Call for Posters for upcoming Prairie Organics Conference held in Brandon, MB on March 5-6, 2020. As part of the conference, we are holding a scientific poster session for students, researchers and farmers to have an opportunity to share their research and developments in the field. More information about the poster session can be found at https://www.prairieorganics.org/poster-session detailing appropriate topics. Abstracts must be submitted in Microsoft Word format by February 1.
Feedback being sought on potential changes to the Summer Term academic schedule – Two forums are scheduled for students, faculty and staff to hear more about potential changes to the Summer schedule starting in 2021, and to provide their feedback in person or by email following either session. Wednesday, January 22 OR Thursday, January 23, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM in Senate Chamber, Room E3-262 Engineering Building.
Ready to take action to save our planet? Put your thinking caps on because the University of Manitoba is participating in Invent for the Planet on February 14 to 16. Invent for the Planet, a 48-hour, sustainability-focused international idea and design competition, is open to all students (undergraduate and graduate) from all faculties and post-secondary institutions across Manitoba. In the competition, interdisciplinary student teams of four to six are tasked with solving issues in areas such as waste management, food security, environment, education, digital technology, agriculture, and medicine/medical systems and delivery. The event provides an opportunity for students to network with industry professionals; meet new friends; develop presentation, problem-solving and designing skills; and add a dynamic accomplishment to a resume or CV. Cash prizes are up for grabs. The winner of the UM competition will have the opportunity to present their idea to Texas A&M University judges on behalf of the University. Learn more and sign up at https://news.umanitoba.ca/invent-for-the-planet/.
We need your help to improve your campus commute. By filling out the 2020 Campus Commute survey, you influence the improvement of transportation options on and leading to our campuses. Take part between Jan. 13 – 31 for a chance to win a $500 grocery gift certificate; or one of 10 $50 food vouchers for Degrees, Campo or Starbucks. Learn more and take the survey at https://news.umanitoba.ca/improve-your-campus-commute/.
The University of Manitoba is committed to helping improve the mental health and wellbeing of its community. One way it’s doing so is by offering a second round of Success Through Wellness Grants. Staff, faculty, and students can all apply for a grant to fund an initiative or program that will improve the mental health and wellbeing of the UM community during the 2020-21 academic year. Grants of up to $10,000 are available to students, staff and faculty from all campuses across the University of Manitoba. Projects can be new initiatives or enhancements to existing programs with a proven track record. Applications close February 3, 2020, and grant recipients will be announced in the spring. Read the call for proposals at https://umanitoba.ca/student/mentalhealth/grants.html.