AG e-news September 25
News and events from the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences
News and events from the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences
UPCOMING EVENTS
Thursday, September 26 – An Advanced Plant Science Seminar will be held in the Carolyn Sifton Lecture Theatre, 130 Agriculture Building at 3:30 pm. Rasanie Padmathilake, PhD Student, Department of Plant Science, will present “Investigation of Two Novel Strategies for Maximizing the Arsenal in the Fight Against Blackleg in Canola”. All are welcome to attend. Coffee at 3:00 pm in the Atrium.
Friday, September 27 – FASO is hosting an Aggie Bedpush Kickoff Breakfast from 8 am to 11 am in Room 134 Agriculture. Breakfast will be made by FASF undergrad students and all proceeds from the breakfast will go the Bedpush charity STARS Foundation Air Ambulance. Cost is a $5 minimum donation.
Friday, September 27 and Saturday, September 28 – The 38th Aggie Bedpush will be moving through the communities of Portage la Prairie, MacGregor, Carberry, Minnedosa, Boissevain, Baldur, Manitou, and Starbuck in support of STARS Foundation helicopter air ambulance. Each year this fundraiser organized by FASO, the student council representing students in Agricultural and Food Sciences. Donate in the communities or go online to https://foundation.stars.ca/MB-tributegift and indicate in the “Comments” Aggie Bedpush so they can acknowledge your donation.
Friday, September 27 – As part of the CCARM Food for Thought lecture series, Martin Scanlon, Dean will give a seminar in the Samuel N. Cohen Auditorium (St. Boniface Hospital Albrechtsen Research Centre, 351 Tache Avenue, Winnipeg) at 2:00 pm entitled “Emphasizing the links between agriculture, food and health”.
Friday, September 27 – Blue Bomber 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, September 28 – It’s Eggstravaganza time! Come down to Fam and Food Discovery Centre and join Manitoba Egg Farmers for fun-filled eggtivities and a chance to win some eggcellent prizes! Hop aboard the trolley to see visit the laying hen barn on the site and chat it up with egg farmers. This free event runs 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM. For more information, call 204-883-2524 or email ffdc [at] umanitoba [dot] ca.
Tuesday, October 1 – A Practical Approach: Cannabis Edibles and Safe Foods for Canadians Regulations Symposium will take place before Supplier Expo from 8:30 am – 1:00 pm at the Victoria Inn Hotel & Convention Centre, 1808 Wellington Avenue. Experts will present useful information on these two currently trending topics. For more information and registration: https://cifst.wildapricot.org/event-3561786
Tuesday, October 1 – The Canadian Institute of Food Science & Technology Supplier Expo will take place 1 pm – 4:30 pm at the Victoria Inn Hotel & Convention Centre, 1808 Wellington Avenue. This international trade show is an opportunity for networking and displaying products and services to a growing market in the Canadian Prairies that includes R&D technologists, food scientists, purchasers and senior managers from leading food and beverage manufacturers. Learn more at https://cifst.wildapricot.org/event-3244557
Tuesday, October 1 – A Department of Entomology Seminar will be presented by Dr. Byron N. Van Nest, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba on “Neural circuitry and behaviour: the neuroethology of learned and innate behaviour in invertebrate systems”. Refreshments at 10:00 am, seminar begins at 10:10 am sharp in 220 Animal Science/Entomology Building. All are welcome.
Tuesday, October 1 – A Department of Animal Science Seminar will be held on in Room 219 Animal Science Building at 1:00 pm. Sidonie Robinson, M.Sc. student, will be giving a scientific presentation on “Effect of by-products on total gas, methane production and rumen fermentation in a semi continuous fermentation system (RUSITEC)”. All are welcome to attend.
Tuesday, October 1 – A Human Nutritional Sciences Program Seminar will take place at 3:00 pm in Room 207 Human Ecology Building, with graduate student Anne Marques Mendonca presenting a seminar entitled “Diet by Sex Interactions on Oxylipins and Phospholipase A2 Activity: Is There a Link?”.
Wednesday, October 2 – The Soil Science Seminar Series will feature Dr. Michael Schindler, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Manitoba, at 12:30 pm in Room 346 Ellis Building on the topic “Environmental Nanoscience: Understanding biogeochemical processes at the nanometer scale”.
Thursday, October 3 – An Advanced Plant Science Seminar, organized by the Plant Science Graduate Students Association (PSGSA) and sponsored by the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences Endowment Fund, will be held in the Carolyn Sifton Lecture Theatre, 130 Agriculture Building at 3:30 pm. Dr. Sateesh Kagale, Research Scientist, Crop Genetics and Genomics, National Research Council Canada, Saskatoon, will present “A walk on the wild side of the wheat: Modulation of homeologous recombination and introgression of alien traits into wheat”. All are welcome to attend. Coffee at 3:00 pm in the Atrium.
Tuesday, October 8 – A Human Nutritional Sciences Program Seminar will take place at 3:00 pm in Room 207 Human Ecology Building, with graduate student Shiqi Huang presenting a seminar entitled “Does docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) promote an anti-atherogenic state in endothelial cells via epigenetic and transcriptional mechanisms?”
Wednesday, October 9 – There will be a Department of Food and Human Nutritional Sciences M.Sc. Thesis Defense with Lucien Cayer, Human Nutritional Sciences, presenting “Effects of sub-chronic dietary 2-monochloro-1,3-propanediol on oxidized lipids in rat heart, kidney, serum, and skeletal muscle” at 10:00 am in the Sam Cohen Auditorium at St. Boniface Albrechtsen Research Centre.
Tuesday, October 15 – A Department of Entomology Seminar will be presented by Dr. Farnaz Kordbacheh, Department of Plant Science, University of Manitoba on “The influence of habitat conservation on pollinators and beneficial insects in an intensified agricultural landscape”. Refreshments at 10:00 am, seminar begins at 10:10 am sharp in 220 Animal Science/Entomology Building. All are welcome.
Tuesday, October 15 – A Human Nutritional Sciences Program Seminar will take place at 3:00 pm in Room 207 Human Ecology Building, with graduate student Chelsey Walchuk presenting a seminar entitled “Alterations in lipid metabolism and dietary fatty acid quality in the pathogenesis of benign prostatic hyperplasia”.
October 19 and November 2 – Manitoba Rural Women’s Day will be hosted by Manitoba Women’s Institute (MWI) Saturday October 19: Oak Bluff, Manitoba – Oak Bluff Recreation Club and Saturday November 2: Brandon, Manitoba – Sokol Hall. Join them to learn and share on the topic of “Women Showing Courage, Determination, Boldness”. Watch for more details on MWI Facebook and the MWI website – http://www.mbwi.ca.
Tuesday, October 22 – Save the date for the 11th Annual Kraft Lecture, which will feature Dr. Michele Veeman from the University of Alberta at 2:30 pm in the Richardson Internationa Auditorium, Room 172 Agriculture. Topic TBA.
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. For the program and general registration information visit https://www.advancingwomenconference.ca/2019east/.
Tuesday, October 29 – Keystone Agricultural Producers is hosting a Safe and Low Stress Beef Handling workshop at MBFI’s Brookdale Farm north of Brandon. Cost is $35 and includes lunch and coffee. Register at https://www.manitobafarmsafety.ca/training-events.
Thursday, October 31 – The second seminar in the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences 2019-2020 Seminar Series is a joint one with the Department of Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics and will be held at 3:30 pm in the Richardson International Auditorium, 172 Agriculture Building. Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. Dalhousie University, will present “The rise of fake meat: implications from farm gate to your plate”. Refreshments will be served at 3:00 pm.
Friday, November 1 – Save the date! The 24rd Annual Fields on Wheels Conference is themed “Logistics and Valued-added Processing of Field Crops: The Veggie Burger Revolution ”. This one-day conference will take place at the Four Points South Hotel, Winnipeg. Featured keynote speaker is Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, Dalhousie University. More details including complete speaker list, and online registration at https://ctrf.ca/?page_id=6198. Early bird registration ($295 plus GST) ends October 8, regular registration $345 plus GST.
STAFF AND STUDENT NEWS
Digvir Jayas, Vice-President (Research and International) and Distinguished Professor in Biosystems Engineering, has received the 2019 Sir John William Dawson Medal from the Royal Society of Canada. This award is given biannually to recognize important contributions of knowledge in multiple domains. Read more at https://news.umanitoba.ca/grain-researcher-recognized-by-royal-society-of-canada/.
Martin Entz, Plant Science, was honoured by the Canada Organic Trade Association with the Leadership in Organic Science Award during the 10th anniversary Organic Week Celebration in Toronto on September 11. Read more at https://news.umanitoba.ca/plant-scientist-recognized-for-contributions/.
Dilantha Fernando, Plant Science, was an invited speaker at the Syngenta sponsored Saltro Launch and Conference held at the Fairmont Hotel on September 10. Saltro is a canola seedcare product developed by Syngenta. Dilantha carried out lab, greenhouse and field experiments on this product against blackleg of canola with his PhD student Rasanie Padmathileke and his technician Paula Parks. The title of Dilantha’s presentation was “Seed applied technology (Saltro) to help Canadian producers manage blackleg in canola”. Dilantha gave another talk and presentation to the ag and seed industry reprasentatives at the Ian Morrison Research Farm in Carman, MB on Wed September 10. Paula and Rasanie introduced the field work where participants were given an opportunity to cut canola stems at the crown (base) to see the effects of Saltro as a seedcare product against blackleg disease. Blackleg is the most important disease in canola in Canada. Dilantha emphasized the value of this seedcare product to protect the canola seedlings from initial infection at the seedling stage.
Pascal Ghazalian, Department of Economics, University of Lethbridge, is a visiting professor in the Department of Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics while he is on sabbatical. He is working on international food aid research with Ryan Cardwell.
Rob Currie, and two M.Sc students from Entomology, Derek Micholsen and Rosanna Punko all attended and presented their research at Apimondia, an International Congress in Montreal September 9-12, with over 5,000 attendees at the congress from over 120 countries. Other members of the bee lab Zoe Remple and Lisa Babey were also in attendance.
Kees Plaizier, Animal Science, attended a workshop and gave a keynote presentation on “Enhancing gut health of dairy cows” at the Headquarters of Elanco in Greenfield, IN, and attended the Annual Meeting of the American Dairy Science Association in Cincinnati, OH, in July. He also attended the Joint Annual Meeting of the American Society of Animal Science and the Canadian Society of Animal Science held in Austin, TX, in July, and the International Symposium on Ruminant Physiology held in Leipzig, Germany, in September. He chaired and presented at all meetings. In addition, Kees travelled to the University of Saskatchewan in July to be an external examiner of a PhD defense. As Consulting Editor in Chief of the Canadian Journal of Animal Science, Kees represented Canadian Science Publishing at the CSAS Award Ceremony by giving out awards to the winners of the graduate student competitions.
The Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre (FFDC) had a very busy and successful Farm and Food Awareness Week. FFDC hosted a very popular Open Farm Day on September 15 with a record 873 visitors attending. The FFDC was then a co-host to the Amazing Agriculture Adventure (AAA) from September 17 to 19, with a total of 900 students attending over the three days. The AAA is an Agriculture in the Classroom – Manitoba program offering a hands-on, interactive experience geared to the Grades 4 and 5 science curriculum. And finally, on September 20 (the day of the hurricane!), the FFDC welcomed 16 teachers and over 200 high school students for the inaugural Food From the Land Day workshop, where participants visited each of eight stations in 20-minute rotations.
The Faculty was pleased to host the reunion gatherings of the Classes of 1959 (Ag Degree) and 1969 (Home Economics) over the Homecoming weekend. Both groups enjoyed lunch, presentations and tours. Thank you to all who assisted in making their experience an enjoyable one!
The September Faculty seminar presented by Dr. Steve Marcroft entitled “The Australian story of blackleg in canola: from crop destruction to 4 million tonnes” is now available on the seminars page at www.umanitoba.ca/afs/seminars/
IN THE NEWS
Alumna Cindy Grant was featured in the Manitoba Co-operator (September 25) article “From convincing teachers agriculture was a real career to international honours” – https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/news-opinion/news/from-convincing-teachers-agriculture-was-a-real-career-to-international-honours/
The Aggie Bedpush was highlighted in the article “Ag students taking to the road” in the Headingley Headliner (September 23) – https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/headliner/Ag-students-taking-to-the-road-561131351.html
Alumni Bill Campbell and Fiona Jochum were featured in the Winnipeg Free Press article “” (September 23) – https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/rain-threatens-to-wash-away-2-billion-in-farm-income-561161552.html.
Claudio Stasolla, Plant Science, was featured in the article “Improving water stress tolerance in soybeans” in Top Crop Manager (September 20) – https://www.topcropmanager.com/improving-water-stress-tolerance-in-soybeans/
The work done by Mario Tenuta and Nazanin Ghavami, Soil Science, was noted in the Top Crop Manager (September 20) article “Soybean cyst nematode confirmed in Manitoba” and in Grainews (September 19) – https://www.topcropmanager.com/soybean-cyst-nematode-confirmed-in-manitoba/ and https://www.grainews.ca/daily/soybean-cyst-nematode-confirmed-in-manitoba
Don Flaten, Soil Science, was quoted in the article “The Problem with Phosphorus” in the Manitoba Co-operator (September 20) – https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/news-opinion/news/the-problem-with-phosphorus/
A research paper by Derek Brewin and Ryan Cardwell, Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics, was featured in the articles “Canola win for Canada at WTO could be a ‘pyrrhic victory’” and “How much has losing China cost Canadian canola growers?” in the Manitoba Co-operator (September 19) – https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/news-opinion/news/canola-win-for-canada-at-wto-could-be-a-pyrrhic-victory/ and https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/news-opinion/news/how-much-has-losing-china-cost-canadian-canola-growers/
Alumni Jill and Clare Martens were featured in the article “Sister pair empowered by family to be women in ag” in the Manitoba Co-operator (September 17) – https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/news-opinion/news/ben-martensand-daughters/
Don Flaten, Soil Science, was noted in the editorial “” in the Winnipeg Free Press (September 14) – https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/phosphorus-a-problem-in-which-we-all-play-a-part-560306822.html
Don Flaten, Soil Science, was interviewed in the article “Phosphorus: grain’s double-edged sword” in the Western Producer (September 12) – behind a paywall at https://www.producer.com/2019/09/phosphorus-grains-double-edged-sword/
Alumnus Brett Sheffield was highlighted in the article “Manitoba businesses among fastest-growing across the country” in the Winnipeg Free Press (September 12) – behind a paywall at https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/manitoba-businesses-among-fastest-growing-across-the-country-560198782.html.
Rotimi Aluko, director of the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals, was featured in the article “Snack Machine” in GrainsWest (September 9) – http://grainswest.com/2019/09/snack-machine/
PUBLICATIONS
Xiang, J., Li, W., Ndolo, V.U., and Beta, T. (2019) A comparative study of the phenolic compounds and in vitro antioxidant capacity of finger millets from different growing regions in Malawi. Journal of Cereal Science 87:143-149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2019.03.016
Check out the special open access section of the Journal of Environmental Quality “Celebrating the 350th Anniversary of Discovering Phosphorus – For Better or Worse” – https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/jeq/tocs/48/5 Selected articles noted below:
Jarvie, H. P., A. N. Sharpley, D. Flaten, and P. J. A. Kleinman. 2019. Phosphorus mirabilis: Illuminating the Past and Future of Phosphorus Stewardship. J. Environ. Qual. 48:1127-1132. doi:10.2134/jeq2019.07.0266
Jarvie, H. P., D. Flaten, A. N. Sharpley, P. J. A. Kleinman, M. G. Healy, and S. M. King. 2019. Future Phosphorus: Advancing New 2D Phosphorus Allotropes and Growing a Sustainable Bioeconomy. J. Environ. Qual. 48:1145-1155. doi:10.2134/jeq2019.03.0135
Grant, C. A., and D. N. Flaten. 2019. 4R Management of Phosphorus Fertilizer in the Northern Great Plains. J. Environ. Qual. 48:1356-1369. doi:10.2134/jeq2019.02.0061
Schneider, K. D., J. R. Thiessen Martens, F. Zvomuya, D. K. Reid, T. D. Fraser, D. H. Lynch, I. P. O’Halloran, and H. F. Wilson. 2019. Options for Improved Phosphorus Cycling and Use in Agriculture at the Field and Regional Scales. J. Environ. Qual. 48:1247-1264. doi:10.2134/jeq2019.02.0070
GENERAL NEWS
The Department of Animal Science is hiring a Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) Physiology and Welfare. Position close date is October 17, 2019. Learn more at https://viprecprod.ad.umanitoba.ca/DEFAULT.ASPX?REQ_ID=08793
The 2019 Annual Undergraduate Student Research Poster Competition will take place Thursday, October 24. It’s a great opportunity for members of the university community and the general public to see the relevance, value, and outstanding caliber of research being conducted by young researchers at the University of Manitoba. Please encourage undergraduate students to participate in this event. Students may wish to present the results of an undergraduate honours thesis completed in the previous academic year; present the results of a summer 2019 research project; or present an original research/scholarly/creative works project that was completed in an undergraduate course. See http://umanitoba.ca/postercompetition/ for further details. The deadline to register is Friday, October 11.