Faculty of Agriculturaland Food Sciences

GROWING TOGETHER

Through innovation and collaboration,

we strive to meet our mission of

“Nourishing the world without costing the earth.”

The agri-food industry contributes to the faculty’s

capacity for research, development and innovation

by creating opportunities for students, faculty and researchers

to make a real difference in the world around them, today.

I’m proud of what our partnership has accomplished so far. In the

stories that follow, you’ll see how our work together is changing

lives for the better, at home and across the globe.

As the world’s needs continue to change, our ability to meet

the challenges of tomorrow will depend upon our commitment

to keep on growing together – for the next

century and beyond.

KARIN WITTENBERGDean, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences

The University of Manitoba and our province’s agri-food industry have been growing together for over 100 years. The Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences at the U of M plays a crucial role in this partnership by providing our

industry with the people – the innovators, challengers, and trailblazers – to lead the way.

GROWING TOGETHER

FACULTY & RESEARCHERS

INDUSTRY

STUDENTS

COMMUNITY & PROVINCE

F A C U L T Y O F A G R I C U L T U R A L A N D F O O D S C I E N C E S > 1

surprised by how complex a relationship

they had with such a simple food,” she

says. “Even though it began as a Scottish

bread, bannock has evolved into an

Aboriginal bread because it’s been passed

down through generations, because we

liked it so much, because it’s easy and

inexpensive to make.”

As a graduate student, Cyr has widened

the scope of her project to examine a

broader range of foods. She wants to

explore what traditional foods look like to

people living in cities. Most importantly,

she’s developing ways to pass traditional

food knowledge and skills on to youth.

“We’ll get our hands on wild meats,

grains, berries, look at what their parents

are making, introduce them to simple

things like bannock and hamburger

soup, and teach them cooking skills so

they can pass that knowledge forward.”

“Aboriginal people are on the verge of

losing our sense of what our traditional

foods are, and the skills to prepare them,”

Cyr explains. “When I started, I wanted

to find out how we define traditional

foods, the ones we’ve passed down

over generations.”

As an undergraduate student, Cyr used

a research award to study bannock, a

food whose traditional status has been

contested because of its colonial origins.

She interviewed 25 subjects in Winnipeg’s

North End community, including

14 Elders, and discovered that each of

them identified culturally, spiritually

and emotionally with bannock. “I was

EXPLORING ABORIGINAL FOODWAYS

Her traditional name is Yellow Wolf; her English name is Monica Cyr. She is a proud Métis student pursuing a graduate degree in human nutritional sciences – and her research is already changing our

understanding of traditional Aboriginal foodways.

“We’ll talk about things you normally

don’t talk about in the city, like how to

prepare moose or duck. And if those

aren’t available, what do we have that we

might consider Aboriginal food, and how

do we prepare that?”

Cyr is also interested in exploring how

Métis people define their traditional foods.

A passion for health and nutrition inspired

Cyr to leave a banking career and pursue

a degree in dietetics. Immersing herself in

the U of M’s Aboriginal community and

programs, in turn, helped her reconnect

with her culture. “Now I want to constantly

educate myself about my culture and

share that with others. So many people

were touched when I went back into the

community to share the results of my

bannock study. It’s vital for the knowledge

I gain to travel full circle.”

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PURE INNOVATION

Monica CyrM.Sc. student, Human Nutritional Sciences

Kelly Beaulieu’s Aboriginal heritage inspired her reverence for the earth and the food it produces. A degree in agriculture and a career in research and development spurred her capacity for innovation. Now, as the

owner of Canadian Prairie Garden Purees in Portage la Prairie, she’s feeding the world with nutritious, delicious purees made from Manitoba vegetables, berries and legumes.

Most of the ingredients used in Beaulieu’s purees are vegetables that producers would otherwise discard. “Nine to 12 million pounds of carrots, for example, are thrown away each year because they’re chipped, crooked, too big, too small, not pretty enough to sell at the supermarket,” she explains. A trained agronomist, Beaulieu knows that even if the raw vegetables don’t look perfect, “they’re otherwise superlative products grown in soil that’s the envy of the world.”

An innovator at heart, Beaulieu explored various cooking techniques before discovering the steam infusion technology that has become her company’s hallmark.

“Other processes produce purees that are burnt or nutritionally degraded. Because of the way they’re cooked, ours have incredible flavour, texture, colour, nutritional quality. The result is a tasty and inexpensive package that’s easy to stack, store and ship.”

Beaulieu’s purees have impressed global food heavyweights such as Nestlé, Gerber’s, Campbell’s and Beechnut. “We now have opportunities to provide our products to the food service industry, third world countries, virtually any place looking for affordable, nutrient- dense food products made from the pristine crops Canada is known for.”

The purees are also an ideal solution for northern communities facing the challenge of food security.

“The welfare of my people is import-

ant to me,” says Beaulieu, who hails from

Sandy Bay First Nation. “Every step of

my business is inspired by the values of my

Aboriginal heritage: reverence for our

land and water, the importance

of not wasting things, and sharing

what we have.”

BUILDING A BETTER GREENHOUSE

Biosystems Engineering professor Qiang Zhang is spearheading the development of solar-powered

greenhouses that provide healthy, affordable and sustainable food systems for Canada’s northern communities.

Many northern communities struggle with food insecurity, a problem made worse by the enormous cost of shipping fresh foods to remote regions. Conven-tional greenhouses demand a great deal of energy and expertise to operate in cold northern climates, but Zhang and his multidisciplinary team are exploring novel solutions. In addition to solar power, Zhang’s greenhouses would run on energy generated from local biomass materials. And they’d be easy to build using locally sourced – and often non-conventional – construction materials, such as peat moss mixed with shredded cardboard, or insulation panels made from plastic bottles.

BREEDING SUCCESS

“For the first step, we’re setting up a test facility that simulates northern conditions so we can sort out the technological challenges,” he says. “In the U of M’s Alternative Village experimental facility, we’re going to connect a greenhouse to a biomass energy production facility and solar energy facilities, and test different construction materials. The second step will be to work with a northern community to build a facility.”

Zhang says the project will result in new products and technologies that could benefit various industries, and create unique and attractive training opportunities for under-graduate and graduate students and post-doctoral fellows from a variety of disciplines, including agriculture, science and engineering.

He believes the greenhouses will impact more than the physical health of the communities that build them. “We contribute to social spirit by bringing a community together to work in the greenhouse. You can operate it as a small commercial operation, or run it as a community greenhouse, where you allocate a piece to each family to grow their own food. The materials are already there – so let’s use them!”

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These new cultivars offer higher yield,

greater disease resistance, herbicide

tolerance, and improved oil and

protein quality.

Duncan’s trailblazing research program

works closely with experts from Bunge

Canada and DL Seeds to develop

exceptional hybrid cultivars and bring

them to market.

“The ability to sell a superior cultivar

offers huge benefits to both companies,”

he says. “Improved disease resistance

BREEDING SUCCESS

Robert DuncanDepartment of Plant Science

Developing safe, sustainable foods and bio-products is one of our Faculty’s historic strengths and strategic priorities. Building on the development of canola at the University of Manitoba in the 1970s, plant science

professor Dr. Robert Duncan has forged partnerships with the seed and food production industries to create new cultivars of canola and rapeseed.

and knowledge regarding the pathogen

populations is also critical for growers.

Better rapeseed produces improved oil,

which is often used to make specialty

lubricants, personal care products such as

shampoos and cosmetics, and slip agents

for plastics. And, more nutritious canola

oil and meal benefits consumer health.”

Duncan’s multidisciplinary approach to the

research program will immerse students

in genomics, genetics, agronomic

management, and traditional field-based

breeding. “We’re exposing students not

only to science but to industry by offering

a very rare experience in a commercially

successful breeding program. We’re

taking our students all the way from the

classroom, the lab and the field, to the

marketplace.”

Public concern for animal welfare has been driving the Canadian pork industry to adopt sow housing techniques perceived to be more animal-friendly than conventional confinement housing.

DESIGNING SWINE BARN SUCCESS

European producers have already turned

from gestation crates to group housing,

and large North American food processors

such as Maple Leaf Foods have committed

to producing pork from sows group-

housed during gestation.

But which alternative systems are

most practical and economically viable

for Canadian producers? To find out,

Manitoba’s pork producers turned to

U of M researchers.

Project lead Laurie Connor says that

because many Manitoba sow barns still

had 10-15 years of use left, it made sense

to focus on options for converting existing

barns, rather than building new ones.

During the first phase of the project,

which began in 2010, researchers

conducted a global literature review

Laurie ConnorDepartment of Animal Science

management practices we recommend to producers are sustainable and profitable.”

Amiro and his colleagues work closely with industry partners such as the Canadian Fertilizer Institute, Agrium, Environment Canada, Dairy Farmers of Manitoba, and the Dairy Cattlemen’s Association, and use data from more than a thousand independent producers to find solutions that benefit the industry and the environment alike.

SOLVING GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS

Agriculture contributes eight to 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Soil scientist Brian Amiro

and colleagues are looking for ways to decrease these emissions – especially in beef production and cropping systems – while ensuring agriculture continues to thrive economically.

In one of the group’s current projects, the team measures and compares how factors such as fertilizers, digestive microbes, diet and manure impact the amount of methane that comes from cattle operations. In another study, the researchers focus on the amount of nitrous oxide emitted by soils. In a third project, they hope to find out what kinds of crops and cropping systems result in lower emissions.

“We’re using what we call whole-system greenhouse gas accounting to find out, over the long term, which processes and systems make us greenhouse gas neutral, and how to improve our estimates of Canada’s emission levels,” he explains. “To accomplish this, we have to consider not only crops and cattle, but the impacts of equipment, importing and manufacturing fertilizer, and much more, to ensure that the best

to gather all the available scientific

evidence on alternative housing systems.

Then they turned to advisory and focus

groups to narrow down key issues and

priorities for producers and industry.

From there, they presented the four most

effective options for Manitoba farmers

in a booklet available on the Manitoba

Pork website to guide producers in the

decision-making process.

“Once you start looking at the types of

feeding systems, the ways you can group

the sows together, and what type of

flooring to adopt, you easily end up with

at least 72 possible combinations,” says

Connor. “We set out to create straight-

forward tools that would help producers

understand and compare their options,

and how each option would impact the

bottom line.”

In the project’s second phase, specialists

from the U of M’s Department of

Biosystems Engineering developed the

innovative Sow Housing Design Utility

software package, which is available to

producers for free. “A producer inputs

the dimensions of his/her barn, their

sow inventory, and details about his/her

production and sow flow, and the

software plots out how their operation

might implement an electronic sow

feeding system, for example,” explains

Connor. “The program presents a new

barn layout, inventory figures, and links

to a financial application that calculates

the approximate cost to implement the

conversion. Producers now have basic

plans and a ballpark figure they can take

to advisors and engineers.”

The project has now expanded onto

the national stage, thanks to funding

from the Canadian swine research

cluster Swine Innovation Porc. Meanwhile,

Connor and her team continue to research

the factors that impact sow health,

productivity and longevity in group

housing environments. “Sow well-being

translates into a more productive animal,

which translates into economic success,”

she says. “That’s why it’s so important

we do it right.”

ME T H

A NE

C A R B ON D

I OX I D

E

F A C U L T Y O F A G R I C U L T U R A L A N D F O O D S C I E N C E S > 7

“ We all have to do our part. Agriculture can be one of the solutions.”

Our students and faculty researchers are exploring innovative ways to bring safe drinking water and sustainable wastewater infrastructure to First Nations communities through CREATE H2O, the first science-engineering research training program in Canada to combine technical water and wastewater

management training with Indigenous theory and law.

WASTE NOT WANT NOT

Annemieke Farenhorst, lead researcher

and director of the CREATE H2O project,

says many of the program’s research

projects are initiated by First Nations that

“identify a need in their communities and

are willing to help our students learn.”

Undergraduate students participating

in the program complete a research

internship or work term with engineering

QUENCHING A THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE

Annemieke Farenhorst Director, CREATE H20

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Nazim Cicek, a professor of Biosystems Engineering, is designing innovative new systems and processes to treat the wastewater produced by agriculture and industry. Among other things, he’s looking for ways to recover or

remove potentially harmful nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen that leach from wastewater pools and spread into surrounding waterways, producing algal blooms and reducing the quality of our rivers and lakes.

“Our research focuses on providing alternative treatment options to decision- makers,” he explains. “These nutrients come from many sources, and we’re working hard to identify the right technologies for dealing with each one.”

Cicek is also exploring ways to extract energy from waste streams. One method involves biogas production. Another uses membrane filters and other advanced technologies to strain out wastewater effluents and use them in reactors. He’s also begun to experiment with biodegradable plastics, or “bioplastics”, produced by microbes that consume the nutrients in waste streams and convert them into carbon.

The potential impacts of Cicek’s research are impressive, indeed. Using biomass and biowaste to produce energy will help reduce our fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Making waste products more biodegradable could reduce our impact on landfills.

A chemical engineer by training and an environmentalist at

heart, Cicek says he’s “excited by the prospect of turning waste

into a useful resource, whether it’s fertilizer, fibre, plastics,

alcohols or energy. If, as engineers, we can provide solutions to

some of the most pressing problems facing our province, our

country, and

our world today,

then that makes

me feel good.”

Photo credit: Elizabeth Harries

Our students and faculty researchers are exploring innovative ways to bring safe drinking water and sustainable wastewater infrastructure to First Nations communities through CREATE H2O, the first science-engineering research training program in Canada to combine technical water and wastewater

management training with Indigenous theory and law.

QUENCHING A THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE

and environmental consulting firms

and Indigenous organizations. Graduate

students complete a research thesis,

while post-doctoral fellows pursue

interdisciplinary research projects and

lead training workshops. 

Eighteen graduate students, 19 under-

graduate students and four postdoctoral

fellows have joined CREATE H2O since

it began in 2013. About a third of those

trainees are Indigenous.

“Building meaningful research relation-

ships with First Nations communities

is crucial to the program’s success,” says

Farenhorst. “They benefit by obtaining

expertise from leading scientists and

engineers, while helping students achieve

their degrees. First Nations students

receive training they can take back to

their communities, and non-Indigenous

“ Building meaningful research relationships with First Nations communities is crucial.”

students gain a richer cultural under-

standing in addition to their science and

engineering skills.”

The program is funded in part by a

$1.65-million NSERC grant and brings

together 38 researchers from the

University of Manitoba, Trent University’s

Institute for Watershed Science and

Indigenous Environmental Studies

Program, University College of the North

and University of Saskatchewan.

As the Canadian agri-food, natural health and biopharmaceutical sectors continue to grow, so does the urgent need for highly qualified professionals with versatile skills in developing new foods with

enhanced nutritional value.

Responding to this need, we formed

the FAST (Food Advancement through

Science and Training) program in 2010,

in partnership with the Richardson

Centre for Functional Foods and

Nutraceuticals, the Canadian Centre

for Agri-food Research in Health and

Medicine, and Laval University’s Institute

of Nutrition and Functional Foods.

The program immerses Masters and Ph.D.

students in a research and development

environment combining nutritional

sciences, medical sciences, and process

engineering. Trainees complete a

scientific project tackling both techno-

logical and health issues, a crossover

TAKING THE FAST TRACK

expertise highly sought after by today’s

employers. FAST trainees also gain

industry-specific economic and regu-

latory knowledge, as well as practical

industry experience. They’re closely

mentored by academic and industry

specialists, and complete internships

in world-class research laboratories

and industrial facilities.

“A big part of our focus is on professional

development,” says program coordina-

tor Janelle Richot. “We give our students

opportunities to hone the soft skills

they don’t necessarily get in their

academic training by offering them

workshops, seminars, symposia, and

hands-on opportunities to develop

skills in time management, leadership,

public speaking, knowledge translation

and networking.”

Prescription drugs that reduce high blood pressure sometimes come with unpleasant side effects, such as coughing, erectile dysfunction and edema. To avoid these effects, patients often take only a fraction of the prescribed

dose – and receive only a fraction of the medication’s benefits.

Rotimi Aluko may have a solution. A food scientist and professor in the Department of Human Nutritional Sciences, Aluko and his research team are harnessing the power of peptides – short chains of amino acids – found in the proteins of yellow pea and hemp seed. These peptides have natural antihypertensive (blood pressure-reducing) qualities without all the side effects, and could replace prescription drugs in whole or in part.

“One of the studies we looked at found that non-compliance with prescribed doses of medication is responsible for almost a quarter of the burdens on our health care system,” Aluko explains. “Our hope is that our product would reduce not only incidents of hypertension and stroke, but the systemic impacts of those conditions.”

Since 2001, Aluko has been using enzymes that act “like scissors” to “snip” select peptide chains from yellow pea proteins manufactured by Nutri-Pea, a food producer in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. Lab tests identified several peptides effective at reducing blood pressure. These peptides were tested successfully on humans at the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods, and processed into powder. AOR (Advanced Orthomolecular Research), a Calgary company that manufactures health-promoting natural supplements, has licensed the product, which is now available in the market. Aluko has also partnered with Manitoba Harvest and Hemp Oil Canada to begin testing a second product made from hemp seed, another popular Manitoba crop.

“If that’s successful, we’ll turn to more prairie crops such as flax and soybean to see what benefits their peptides have to offer.”

Aluko says he’s grateful for the funding and support his research

has received from Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers,

who recognize the value his product contributes

to producers, processors, retailers,

consumers, and “a healthier

Canadian society.”

THE POWER OF PEPTIDES

As a result, FAST graduates have told

Richot they enter the workplace better

prepared, and with greater confidence

in their ability to adapt and innovate.

“And that’s not only better for industry,”

she says, “it’s better for consumers,

who benefit from the functional foods

and nutraceuticals our graduates go

on to help create.”

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“ A big part of our focus is on professional development.”

Throughout the Discovery Centre, inter-

active exhibits take visitors on a journey

that explores modern farming and the

science and technology that provides

healthy, sustainable food for Manitoba

and the world. The centre provides tours,

workshops and special events aimed at

middle-years students and the general

public. The centre’s programming also

showcases ongoing U of M research.

Myrna Grahn, the Discovery Centre’s

manager, says she’s excited by the

opportunities the centre will create for

U of M students. “Our students have so

much knowledge and information about

agriculture and the agri-food industry.

It’s vital for them to learn how to make

that knowledge accessible to audiences

of all ages, including producers and the

general public.”

For instance, a practicum course at the

Discovery Centre would show students

how to share what they are learning

in their agricultural and food sciences

programs by adapting it into scripts for

presentations and tours. “They’ll learn

how to translate specialized information

and research into a form that anyone

can digest and understand. Students

will have plenty of face-time putting

those skills to use by speaking and

delivering presentations to the centre’s

many visitors and tour groups.”

The new curriculum will feature media

workshops aimed at arming students

with skills and techniques for speaking

LET’S TALK ABOUT FOOD

The Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre is the first hands-on facility to explore how food is made in Canada. The Discovery Centre opened in 2011 at the National Centre for Livestock and the Environment

(NCLE), located at the U of M’s Glenlea Research Station.

with reporters. The Discovery Centre’s

multimedia classroom will give them

hands-on experience enhancing their

presentations with video, props, and the

Internet. They’ll learn the ins and outs of

social media, including blogging.

Grahn says the Discovery Centre’s

programs and facilities have enormous

potential to evolve and grow as needs

and technologies change. Today, it’s

already the ideal place to hone students

into effective, proactive communicators

who are comfortable writing and speak-

ing with knowledge and confidence

about their industry. “No matter what

career they choose to follow, or where

their path takes them, the communications

skills we give them here will serve them

well in their professional lives.”

Nematodes are tiny, mostly harmless worms. They can be found almost anywhere. But some species, such as the stem and bulb nematode, are causing big problems for Canada’s pulse industry. The damage they

do to crops can result in significant yield loss. Small wonder, then, that the stem and bulb nematode has been on India’s quarantine list for more than a decade. And here’s the real trouble: India is one of the largest importers of Canadian pulses – and although the tiny worms show up in shipments only rarely, the market access issues they create has cost the pulse industry millions of dollars every year.

In 2009, the industry turned to the U of M’s Soil Ecology Lab to help determine why nematodes were showing up in exported yellow pea grain. And now they’re glad they did.

Mario Tenuta, Canada Research Chair in Applied Soil Ecology, surveyed 500 yellow pea grain samples from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. His research team found only 11 that contained the nematode. But some samples also contained Canadian thistle seeds. When the researchers separated the weed seeds from the yellow peas, they found the nematode in the weed seeds, but not the yellow pea seeds. Then, in 2010, Russian and American researchers published a paper about a new species of nematode that infects Canadian thistle – a species almost, but not quite, identical to stem and bulb nematode. Tenuta and his team proved that this new nematode was responsible for the Canadian pulse industry’s market access woes. Based on these findings, Pulse Canada and Dr. Tenuta worked with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to update testing methodologies, resulting in elimination of instances of quarantined or rejected pulse shipments and creating a win-win situation for growers, exporters and importers alike.

More recently, Tenuta and

his group are examining

nematodes across the

Canadian Prairies, including

the thistle nematode, to find

out how much of a threat,

if any, they pose to pulse crops.

So far, no major issues have

been discovered.

CATCHING THE WORM

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Nematodes Ditylenchus dipsaci from garlic on the left compared to Ditylenchus weisheri from pea harvest samples and creeping thistle on the right.

“NuEats promotes a culture of healthy

ingredients and food innovation in

Manitoba,” explains Kay Gardiner,

Program Manager at MAHRN. To be

considered a NuEats project, a product

has to be unique and add value to

producers by offering enhanced

nutritional properties, a new means of

delivery, or a recipe modification that

helps a food reach new audiences.

Concepts that meet these requirements

can then be developed into a market-

able product, guided by experts from

the Food Development Centre, the

Richardson Centre for Functional Foods

and Nutraceuticals, and the Canadian

Centre for Agri-Food Research in Health

and Medicine. Focus groups are used to

test products, then samples are offered

to a wider audience. “U of M students

have proven to be the perfect test market

for NuEats,” says Gardiner. Products that

get a thumbs-up are then packaged

under the NuEats label and sold on the

U of M’s Fort Garry campus.

Students leave the program with a

wider perspective on the realities of

research and development, food

production, marketing, health and

nutritional standards, and a solid

preliminary business plan. Budding

food developers have used their

experiences with NuEats as a spring-

board to commercialize their products

on a larger scale. But even unsuccessful

products have something to offer.

“Failure forces you to look at your product

differently and consider alternatives,”

Gardiner explains. “What if your not-so-

great human food product actually works

as a great animal feed? One thing we

want to teach is that entrepreneurship

is often a circular process – and that it’s

important to keep exploring what our

Manitoba foods and crops have to offer.”

THE FUTURE OF FOOD INNOVATION

NuEats, a program created by the Manitoba Agri-Health Research Network, helps develop and market novel food products, including those created by students in the U of M’s food science and human nutritional

sciences programs. Since NuEats began in 2011, students have helped launch several tasty and innovative products, including healthier chocolate chip cookies, gluten-free pita bread, and soy bean spreads.

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Roasted buckwheat snack

And that benefits not

only the students, but producer groups

and advocacy boards who seek new

avenues for innovation. “For instance,”

says Gardiner, “Manitoba has only ever

exported its buckwheat crop. But one

of our teams discovered that roasted

buckwheat makes for a tasty treat.

No one ever tried it before, and now

our Buckshots treats have won a place

in the market.”

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“ It’s important to keep exploring what our Manitoba foods and crops have to offer.”

The University of Manitoba’s School of Agriculture is committed to improving farm safety across Manitoba in new and innova-tive ways. The need is urgent: according to statistics from the Workers Compensation

Board (WCB), a whopping 30 per cent of all worker-related acute-hazard fatalities in Manitoba are in the agriculture sector.

Thanks to funding from the WCB, and in

partnership with other provincial and

federal safety organizations, the School

offers an Introduction to Farm Safety

course to its agriculture diploma students.

“Many of our students will go on to work

on farms or manage farming operations

of all shapes and sizes,” says Thea Green,

the course’s lead instructor and curricu-

lum designer. “We want to arm them with

knowledge about safe work procedures

THE NEXT GENERATION OF FARM SAFETY

and current safety legislation and make

farm safety a way of life.”

Since the course was first offered in 2013,

Green says the curriculum has evolved

to include a dynamic online component.

Following a brief in-class lecture, students

watch videos and read content online.

They also engage in online discussions

about farm safety. “It’s a more interactive

experience for them,” she explains. “The

online discussions are a safe place for

students to openly ask questions and

discuss their experiences.”

In the final phase of each lesson, students

are asked to apply what they’ve learned

to their own farm. For instance, in one

assignment, Green asked students to

watch a segment of the Rick Mercer

Report in which the popular TV host

visited a farm to learn about agricultural

production. She then asked students

to review their own farms and report

on how they would prepare for a visit

from Mercer.

The online course is being built with

existing tools, “but more funding will

help us expand what we offer and how

we promote and deliver it,” Green says.

“For instance, we’d like to boost the

technological capabilities of our faculty

research stations at Glenlea and Carman

to put our remote learners in touch with

the latest research taking place today.”

Going forward, the course holds the

potential to connect with any Manitoba

farmer with an Internet connection.

“We’re not just reaching out to a wider

audience, but across a generational

divide. Farmers trust the School of

Agriculture and value the information

we provide. Now we can provide them

with resources to help adopt a more

safety-conscious farm culture.”

“ We want to arm them with knowledge about safe work procedures and current safety legislation and make farm safety a way of life.”

Faculty of Agriculturaland Food Sciences

Faculty of Agriculturaland Food Sciences

CONTACT USFaculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences

256 Agriculture Building

66 Dafoe Road

University of Manitoba

Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2 Canada

umanitoba.ca/afs