The P.E.I. Agriculture Awareness Committee, together with the J. Frank Gaudet Tree Nursery, is organizing the 10th annual Agriculture & Forestry Fun Day June 6. Teachers of students in Grades Kindergarten through Grade 3 can sign up their classes for a one-hour session of interactive agricultural exhibits and displays. The Fun Day operates between 9:30 a.m. 3:30 p.m. with space being limited...only the first 600 students can be accommodated!!! To sign up, contact Charlotte Crooks at 314-8483 or e-mail: charlottemaecrooks@hotmail.com.     ...

While they call the rapid decline in the number of farmers shown in the Census of Agriculture a “crisis” that caught few in the industry by surprise, both of the Island’s general farm organizations are worried the Statistics Canada data may actually be on the optimistic side. The survey from the 2011 census shows a 12.2 per cent drop in the number of Island farmers between 2006 and 2011. That is above the national average of 10.1 per cent.  Nationally, 33,135 farmers exited the industry over the last five years. “I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was 25 per cent when ...

It may have been sold over three years ago, but FoodTrust is still an item in the 2012-2013 budget. Opposition Leader Olive Crane demanded to know why the company, which was sold to Mid-Isle Farms in late 2008, was receiving $413,000 in this year’s budget allocation. Mid-Isle Farms includes relatives of Agriculture and Forestry Minister George Webster among its shareholders. “FoodTrust is a private sector company,” Crane said. Do you want to tell us why you gave them a grant?” Jerry Gavin, the Director of Corporate and Finance for the department, said the question relates to merchandising units FoodTrust purchased when it was owned ...

Island farmers will  benefit when the Harmonized Sales Tax is introduced  next April by receiving  investment tax credits on many of the items they purchase for their business, maintains a consultant with the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council. Fred Bergman studied the issue at the request of PEI Federation of Agriculture. He presented his finding during a meeting the federation co-sponsored with a number of other groups recently at the Farm Centre. The evening was designed to provide a look at how the new tax could impact the entire business community, and Bergman was the only speaker to focus specifically on agriculture. ...

While it will be challenging, Agriculture Minister George Webster is convinced Atlantic Beef Products Inc. can keep its losses close to the $1. 5 million cap imposed by the province. The veteran minister came in for plenty of questions on the issue when his estimates were on the floor of the legislature. The plant lost close to $3.2 million last year, forcing the province to review its support for the facility. When Finance Minister Wes Sheridan unveiled his budget in April, he announced Island taxpayers would only cover up to $1.5 million in losses for 2012. ...

The PEI Burger Love campaign experienced the kind of growth in its second year that even corporate giants like Microsoft would have to envy. When the social media campaign that allows diners to vote for their favourite creation was launched in 2011, the 5,517 burgers sold during the month long campaign in April was pretty astounding. Turns out Island burger eaters were just getting warmed up. This year, diners ate 16,150 burgers at the 22 restaurants involved in the competition. For those interested, that works out to 7,835 pounds of Island beef. When all of the votes were tallied, “The Goddess”—the creation ...

Agriculture Minister George Webster said there is a simple reason why his department has never considered additional help forcranberry growers that might be struggling with meeting their payment obligations to the PEI Lending Agency. The deputy premier told Tignish-Palmer Road MLA Hal Perry he has never been asked by anybody in the industry to consider any additional help. The pair was discussing the $900,000 collectively owed to the agency by the province’s hog producers that the province has now written off. Perry asked during discussion of the departmental estimates in the legislature if any help might be forthcoming for the cranberry sector. ...

Plans to consolidate all of the department’s laboratory functions under one roof will not results in any job losses, promises Agriculture and Forestry Minister George Webster. The deputy premier was asked about the issue during debate on his departmental estimates in the legislature. However, the Borden-Kinkora MLA didn’t rule out the possibility there might be less people working there, saying any cutbacks would be handled through attrition. ‘We are not planning any layoffs and no services will be contracted out,” he told Opposition Leader Olive Crane. ”Right now they’re scurrying with every human resource we can to set up new equipment and ...

The Beef Industry Initiative has survived the budgetary axe. Both the PEI Cattle Producers and the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Forestry Energy and Environment called for the program to continue into the next budget year. Agriculture Minister George Webster faced several questions on the issue during discussion of his departmental estimates. Jerry Gavin, the department’s director of finance and corporate services, told Georgetown-St Peters MLA Steven Myers efforts are now under way to combine the Beef Industry Initiative  and the Beef Quality Improvement programs.” Gavin said the idea of the initiative, which includes the Herd Health program, is to improve the quality of ...

Fostera PRRS vaccine is now registered for use in Canada by Pfizer Animal Health as an aid in preventing disease associated with Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV), Respiratory Form, a disease that costs Canada’s pork industry an estimated $130 million annually. Fostera PRRS is a modified live vaccine for the vaccination of healthy, susceptible swine three weeks of age, or older, in PRRSV-positive herds or seronegative pigs deemed at risk for exposure to PRRSV, as an aid in preventing respiratory disease associated with PRRSV. “PRRSV is endemic in almost all pork-producing areas of the world,” says Walter Heuser, DVM, Swine ...