Supporting Quebec food processors in their effort to protect employees

Oct 14, 2020

Ottawa, Ontario – The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, announced an investment of over $380,000 under the Emergency Processing Fund for four local food processors in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region of Quebec.

The first investment of $236,000 will provide Serres Toundra, a cucumber processing plant located in Saint-Félicien, with the support to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE), including a thermal camera for taking the temperature, a centralized disinfection system for their warehouse and hygiene stations.

The three other investments made through the Quebec Food Processing Council (CTAQ) will benefit processors in Alma, including:

$42,000 for Boucherie-Charcuterie Perron;
$17,500 for Charcuterie L. Fortin; and
$86,000 for Nutrinor Cooperative.

This funding will support these Quebec processors to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE), adapt ventilation systems and reorganize warehouses to help ensure physical distancing of employees.

The Government of Canada will continue to protect the health and safety of all Canadians from COVID-19, including those in the food processing sector who work hard to provide us with high-quality food.

Source : Government of Canada

Video: Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes | Field Talk Friday

Field Talk Friday | Dr. John Murphy | Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes

Most of us spend our time managing what we can see above ground—plant height, leaf color, stand counts, and yield potential. But the deeper you dig into agronomy, the more you realize that some of the most important processes driving crop performance are happening just millimeters below the surface.

In this episode of Field Talk Friday, Dr. John Murphy continues the soil biology series by diving into one of the most fascinating topics in modern agronomy: root exudates and the role they play in shaping the microbial world around plant roots.

Roots are not passive structures simply pulling nutrients out of the soil. They are active participants in the underground ecosystem. Plants constantly release compounds into the soil—sugars, amino acids, organic acids, and other molecules—that act as both energy sources and signals for soil microbes.