Recently in Regulation Category

In late January, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed a turkey farm in British Columbia tested positive for the H5 strain of avian influenza (CBC News Story). Over fifty-thousand birds were destroyed and a quarantine of the 23 poultry farms within a 3-kilometre radius of the infected farm was instated. Although the risk to human health was estimated at nearly zero in this case, different strains of avian influenza (e.g., H5N1) have been linked to death and illness in humans in both Asia and Europe in recent years.

Saskatchewan has the highest per capita greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of all Canadian provinces and ranks fourth among provinces in terms of total emissions. Saskatchewan is also a province that stands to lose a great deal as a result of climate change impacts. The province sits in an area where significants impacts are predicted. Complicating matters further, an important part of Saskatchewan's economy - namely agriculture - is especially vulnerable. The question of how much Saskatchewan should do and what specific steps to take are topics of discussion, debate and controversy.

In the 2002 Farm Bill, the United States introduced country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for various commodities. COOL implementation has twice been delayed, but it will now come into effect on September 30, 2008 based on the revisions outlined in the 2008 Farm Bill. The U.S. government argues that COOL will deal with unfair competition, enhance food security, and address information gaps that consumers have about food (Library of Parliament 2003). However, the list of exemptions for the so-called mandatory regulation results in a great deal of food not having to carry country-of-origin labeling.

The Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association (SSCA) is launching its on-line journal at this year's Western Canadian Farm Progress Show (website). KIS introduced the journal in the May 22nd blog entry. This week we post the last of our previews - article summaries - from the upcoming journal. If you have not already done so, please read the May 22nd entry Juanita Polegi, SSCA Project Manager, to learn more about the Ag Tech Journal.

Last week's Illative Blog entry (see link) highlighted three issues that we think are critically in need of examination and analysis. This week we examine three additional issues, followed by a discussion of why the capacity to analyse these issues is limited.