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Better Farming Ontario Featured Articles

Better Farming Ontario magazine is published 11 times per year. After each edition is published, we share featured articles online.


Staying green a challenge in blight-prone Ireland

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Spray as many as 12 times a year for blight, or plant genetically modified potatoes that are resistant? It's a choice that agriculturalists in the Emerald Isle may be forced to make as Ireland tries to stay green, one way or another, in the face of a virulent strain of potato blight approaching from Europe.

The blight spread across Europe in about 18 months and then to the United Kingdom. Scientists say it is highly aggressive and hit western Irish counties at the end of 2008. To make things worse, the European Union, which often finds genetically modified crops unacceptable, is also bringing in restrictions on sprays and chemicals which would make life easier for growers of conventional potato crops.

Ireland is particularly susceptible to the blight because of humid, rainy summers, especially in the last two years.

It was a different strain of the same potato blight that devastated monoculture potato crops in the 1840s, killingmore than a million Irish and creating a Diaspora of Irish emigrants around the world. BF
 

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Ontario Grows Most of the Nation's Celery

Friday, July 24, 2026

When Canadians reach for a stalk of celery at the grocery store, there is a good chance it began its journey on an Ontario farm. While celery occupies only a small share of Canada's overall vegetable acreage, the crop continues to play an important role in the country's fresh... Read this article online

Pilot project supports Ontario and Quebec ag

Friday, July 24, 2026

A new two-year pilot project is designed to help livestock farmers in Quebec by giving them access to an Ontario abattoir. The project, a collaboration between the Quebec and Ontario governments, with additional support from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), would see a limited... Read this article online

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