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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.


Flies that out-pollinate bees?

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

People rarely talk about flies and pollinators in the same breath, not to mention flies and farming, but it's time to rethink those relationships.

Using computer modelling, Alison Parker, a PhD candidate in the University of Toronto's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and her colleagues determined in 2013 that flies might be even better at pollination than bees because flies don't steal pollen for their own use.

Tasmanian vegetable grower Alan Wilson doesn't need a computer to prove the theory. Wilson uses three types of flies (and some bees) to pollinate the cauliflower seed plants that he grows inside a greenhouse.

Wilson breeds flies inside a hut made from burlap and tea tree wood, using carcasses that he "milks" for maggots. He grows out the maggots in trays made of the interior part of a coconut shell. "And there the maggots stay, in the bottom of the trays, because they're happy," Wilson recently told Down Under media outlet, ABC.

Austrian designer Katharina Unger also fancies herself a fly farmer – and thinks others can become one too. She's come up with Farm 432, a container to breed black soldier flies for their protein. In the container, which features many different compartments, it takes – you guessed it – only 432 hours to transform one gram of fly eggs into 2.4 kilograms of edible larvae.

"Black soldier fly adults don't eat, the larvae can be fed on biowaste, therefore the production almost costs no water or CO2," Unger writes on her website. BF

Current Issue

January 2025

Better Farming Magazine

Farms.com Breaking News

The tax impact on farmers of proroguing Parliament

Friday, January 17, 2025

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) is advising farmers to be cautious when preparing their taxes this year. With Prime Minister Trudeau stepping down and proroguing Parliament until March 24,Ontario farmers are learning the suspension ofparliament impacts various proposed... Read this article online

Parliament’s shut down leaves farmers vulnerable

Thursday, January 16, 2025

In March 2025, Canada's agriculture sector and broader supply chain will face a another setback with the expiration of the extended interswitching pilot program. With Parliament prorogued until March 24th, there is effectively no opportunity to renew or make the program permanent before... Read this article online

Ontario Apple Growers name new Chair

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Chris Hedges of Vanessa, Ontario, has been elected as the new Chair of the Ontario Apple Growers (OAG). After completing a year as the organization’s Vice Chair, Hedges () takes over from outgoing Chair Brian Rideout of Blenheim, Ontario, who has led the OAG since December 2023. Past OAG... Read this article online

Tackling vet shortages in rural Ontario

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Research conducted by the University of Guelph (U of G) highlights the challenges in attracting new veterinary graduates to serve food animals, such as cattle, in rural and remote areas of Ontario, particularly northern Ontario. This research is helping to inform solutions aimed at... Read this article online

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