Agriculture In Quebec Research Articles

EXPERIMENTATION OF AN APPLICATION OF EARLY DIAGNOSIS AND INVENTORY OF SOYBEAN DISEASES (GLYCINE MAX (L.) MERR.) IN BURKINA FASO

Glycine max (L.) Merr also known as soya or soybean plays an important role in legume production in Burkina Faso. Every year, the country produces an average of 30,000 tonnes of soybean. It is grown for its oilseeds, which are rich in protein, fat, minerals and vitamins, making it an important food and feed crop. In addition, soya production is profitable for growers because it provides a real source of income through marketing operations. The lack of fertile land, adequate rainfall and phytosanitary protection in soya cultivation are not conducive for efficient production. Ignorance and lack of knowledge of the diseases encountered in soya production make it even more difficult to protect the crop, which further limits production.In order to improve knowledge of soybean diseases in Burkina Faso, an inventory of diseases associated with this crop was carried out using a plant pathology diagnostic application. In this study, the Plantix-Crop Doctor application, based on artificial intelligence with deep learning, was used in an Alpha Lattice experimental device. A disease identification form from the Quebec Agriculture and Agri-Food Research Centre was used as a reference. Among the diseases identified were Septoria leaf spot, grey leaf spot, anthracnose, bacterial blight, soybean blight, sudden death syndrome, downy mildew, powdery mildew and soybean rust. This list provides a database of soybean diseases that must be controlled by methods that consider environmental protection. The Plantix - your crop doctor application can be relied on to diagnose soybean diseases so that they can be treated at an early stage.

Seasonal Migrant Workers Perceived Working Conditions and Speculative Opinions on Possible Uptake of Exoskeleton with Respect to Tasks and Environment: A Case Study in Plant Nursery

Seasonal migrant farmworkers are essential to the success of agriculture in Quebec as they provide the labor needed to produce crops and animals. Notwithstanding, these workers are often at risk of occupational health and safety hazards, while only a few interventions have been implemented to improve the situation. Modern engineering interventions like exoskeleton devices have been introduced to reduce the risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders in other industries, but nothing much has been done in agriculture. This paper employed a mixed-method approach to evaluate the effect of environmental conditions and physical activities on farmworkers’ bodies and sensations and explore their speculative opinions about exoskeletons for their tasks. This study took place in a large plant nursery. Data were collected through field observations, written questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews. The analysis showed heat, humidity, cold, and rain affect farmworkers in feeling sore, worn out, tired, weak, and suffocated. The arms and the back were the body parts most affected by the repetitive bending over and carrying the load. Farmworkers’ exoskeleton perceptions were positive, remarking benefits such as making the task easier, improving posture, reducing fatigue, and protecting the body. The barriers that emerged were concerning the exoskeleton weight, being uncomfortable to wear, causing heat, restricting mobility, not allowing flexibility to change tasks, and not allowing space to work in tight workplaces. The study includes strategies to ensure credibility, reliability, and transferability. Future investigations could test exoskeletons on farmworkers and conduct the cost benefits of exoskeletons in agriculture.

Potential of implementing irrigation in rainfed agriculture in Quebec: A review of climate change‐induced challenges and adaptation strategies

AbstractLeading to growing‐season water stress, eastern Canada's evolving climate has disrupted the region's rainfed farming systems. Accordingly, this review was conducted to assess the status of irrigation, climate‐induced challenges and opportunities and the impact of adaptation strategies on economic returns and the environment in Quebec's agricultural regions. While irrigation is limited mainly to high‐value crops, controlled drainage with sub‐irrigation (CDSI) has been implemented at a limited number of field sites. Given the greater rainfall variability and rising number of growing‐season heatwave events anticipated, previous studies have mainly focused on developing climate change adaptation practices. The present study identified two research gaps: (i) a lack of analyses of drought frequency and its effect on root zone soil moisture, crop ET, crop phenology and agricultural production at a regional scale under historical and future climates and (ii) a lack of regional‐scale studies addressing climate change adaptation options, including supplementary irrigation, and their potential effects on economic return and water resources under a changing climate. Additional studies must address these gaps for the development of climate change adaptation practices to secure food demand and water sustainability.

Managing Antimicrobial Resistance in Food Production: Conflicts of interest and politics in the development of public health policy

Antimicrobial resistance is a growing public health concern and is associated with the over- or inappropriate use of antimicrobials in both humans and agriculture. While there has been recognition of this problem on the part of agricultural and public health authorities, there has nonetheless been significant difficulty in translating policy recommendations into practical guidelines. In this paper, we examine the process of public health policy development in Quebec agriculture, with a focus on the case of pork production and the role of food animal veterinarians in policy making.We argue that a tendency to employ strictly techno-scientific risk analyses of antimicrobial use ignores the fundamental social, economic and political realities of key stakeholders and so limits the applicability of policy recommendations developed by government advisory groups. In particular, we suggest that veterinarians’ personal and professional interests, and their ethical norms of practice, are key factors to both the problem of and the solution to the current over-reliance on antimicrobials in food production.

From mixed farming to intensive agriculture: energy profiles of agriculture in Quebec, Canada, 1871–2011

This article presents an energy analysis of Quebec agroecoystems at five periods of time: 1871, 1931, 1951, 1981, and 2011, calculating for each year the various energy flows and their resulting Energy Return on Investment (EROI). In the nineteenth century, Quebec agroecosystems were typical examples of historical organic agriculture, with a low dependence on external Inputs but a high dependence on biomass reused, mainly livestock feed and crop seeds. Following the full industrialization of Quebec agriculture by the 1960s, there have been massive injections of external inputs, but also steadily rising amounts of biomass reused due to livestock specialization and the decoupling of domesticated animals from crop farming. As a result of this transformation, the energy efficiency of agroecosystems diminished, despite the significant increases in both final produce and area productivity that were achieved.

Expression et prédiction du pouvoir tampon des amendements et des engrais organiques

Masso, C. and Khiari, L. 2013. Computation and prediction of the buffering capacity of organic amendments and fertilisers. Can. J. Soil Sci. 93: 595–606. The buffering capacity (BC) of organic substrates used in agriculture as soil amendments or organic fertilizers are of high interest to prevent adverse effects of mineral fertilizers in the application band near seeds or juvenile seedlings. This is the effect of ammonia, nitrous or aluminum toxicity caused by the sudden and temporary pH flux due to the application of these fertilizers. However, to our knowledge there is no standard method for computing of the BC of organic substrates. In this study, a method by integral calculation, called BCI, was developed and tested on 30 organic amendments and fertilizers (OAF) commonly used in agriculture in Quebec. These OAF were titrated with variable rates of diluted H₂SO₄ or NaOH. A linear and a punctual methods found in the literature were compared to BCI. The integral method was found more appropriate to OAF titration curves, particularly for determining the global BC, integrating the curves obtained during both the acid and alkaline treatments, which was not possible with the other two methods found in the literature. On average, the potential alkalinity of the 30 OAF was higher than the total exchangeable acidity. The globol BCI could be predicted with total Ca, exchangeable Ca, and total Al (r²=0.79). Likewise, the BCI to acidity could be predicted using total Ca, exchangeable Ca, and pHCₐCₗ₂ (r²=0.78).

Qu’est-ce que le corporatisme? Conceptualisation et opérationnalisation du méso-corporatisme

The ambiguity of concepts is a constant obstacle faced by political scientists. Some of the most popular concepts are characterized by their imprecision and their use in very different contexts of study. This article analyses one of these equivocal notions: corporatism. Following Goertz ( Social Science Concepts: A User’s Guide), a conceptualization of meso-corporatism is constructed and operationalized through the case of agriculture in Quebec, Canada. This exercise highlights the theoretical, empirical and comparative contributions of conceptual analysis to scientific inquiry.

Fonctions de production agricole au Québec

This study attempts to estimate the productivity of inputs to Quebec agriculture. It makes use of two Cobb-Douglas production functions: one aggregate, for Quebec as a whole, and the other regional, covering the farming regions 04 and 11, using 1976 data. From the results obtained, marginal productivities of inputs and returns to scale are determined and interpreted. The principal conclusions of this research are: while returns to scale are increasing for Quebec in general, they are constant for the regions 04 and 11. It ensues that, if there is no breakthrough in technology, there is no reason to change the scale of agricultural production in regions 04 and 11; the productivity of machinery is higher in Quebec than in the regions 04 and 11; livestock productivity is high everywhere; as for land and buildings and other inputs, their productivities are low in Quebec as well as in the farming regions 04 and 11. With respect to labor, its productivity is quite high in Quebec and in the regions 04 and 11. However, labor productivity in region 04 is superior to that in region 11.

Use of a fractionation procedure to assess the potential for P movement in a soil profile after 14 years of liquid pig manure fertilization

The accumulation of P originating from animal wastes in the soil profile is of agronomic and environmental concern. Sequential extraction procedure provides relevant information to mobility, bioavailability and distribution of P in animal manure-amended soils. Such information is needed to assess the potential for biological P leaching, under organic amendments, in some Quebec agriculture ecosystems. This study was conducted using soil samples from the long-term experimental plots of the Soil Research Station of the Quebec Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at St-Lambert de Lévis, Quebec, Canada. The objective of this work was to examine the distribution of P fractions in the profile of a Le Bras silt loam soil (Gleysol) growing corn ( Zea mays L.) which had received liquid pig manure (LPM) for 14 years. The surface soil was fertilized annually with various rates of LPM (0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 cm 3 ha −1) in a randomized complete block design with four replicates since 1979. In the fall of 1992, soil samples were collected after the corn harvest from 20 soil plots at 20-cm intervals to a depth of 100 cm. Soil samples were air-dried, crushed, sieved through a 2-mm sieve, and analyzed for soil P fractions using a sequential extraction technique. All treatments resulted in an increase in the labile P pool contents of surface or profile soil compared with the control. Without exception, the amounts of P pools decreased with soil depth and were highly correlated with the LPM rates. The proportion of total P as labile (resin-P i + NaHCO 3-P + NaOH-P) in the soil profile increased from 61 (control) to 79% (highest LPM rate). The amounts of P generally increased in the following order: moderately labile NaOH-P i and -P o (254 mg kg −1) > labile P extracted by resin and NaHCO 3 (209 mg kg −1) > stable P (172 mg kg −1). On average, the amount of labile P i forms (304 mg kg −1) was larger than the amount of labile P o forms (159 mg kg −1) and represented an important fraction of the total labile P pools. Compared to the control treatment, the mean concentration of geochemical P (resin-P i + NaHCO 3-P i + NaOH-P i + HCl-P i + residual P) increased in the soil profile by 16, 26, 33 and 50% for 30, 60, 90 and 120 m 3 ha −1 LPM, respectively. On a profile basis, the soil receiving the highest rate of LPM contained 1.8-fold the biological P (NaHCO 3-P o + NaOH-P o) of the unamended soil. Amounts of labile P o pools in the soil profile were highly correlated with the organic carbon content. Results from this study suggest that heavy application of LPM over the 14-year period promotes P movement to lower portions of the soil profile. The leaching or translocation of P compounds would be responsible for the distribution of P in the various soil layers. Management of LPM rates is necessary after a long-term fertilization of corn.

Administrative Infrastructure and Social Enquiry: Finding the Facts about Agriculture in Quebec, 1853-4

Administrative Infrastructure and Social Enquiry: Finding the Facts about Agriculture in Quebec, 1853-4

Canadian Federalism, Internationalization and Quebec Agriculture: Dis-Engagement, Re-Integration?

The two faces of relations between Quebec and Canadian agriculture have been shaped by Canada’s federal system and developments in the international trading environment. The first face, the disengagement of Quebec’s farm community from the Canadian federal system, can be traced to the Quebec government’s expansionist agricultural policy, the diminished federal expenditure role in Quebec agriculture, and the fissiparous effects of the negotiation of international trade agreements. The second face of good working relationships in the national supply-managed sectors is linked to flexible, national corporatist decisionmaking structures which provide a vital social glue linking Quebec’s dairy sector with that outside Quebec. Restructuring the Canada-Quebec relationship in agriculture by either giving Quebec sole jurisdiction for agriculture or integrating Quebec agriculture more fully into the federation must be assessed in the context

Impacts of a Ghg-Induced Climate Change on Crop Yields: Effects of Acceleration in Maturation, Moisture Stress and Optimal Temperature

The present study involves using the Canadian Climate Centre (CCC) climate change scenario to evaluate the impacts of a CO2-induced climate change on agriculture in Quebec and vicinity. Climate change using the CCC General Circulation Model (GCM) data are fed into a crop model (FAO) so as to gauge the changes in agroclimatic factors such as growing season length and growing degree days, and subsequently potential yield changes for a variety of cereal (C3 and C4), leguminous, oleaginous, vegetable and special crops, for twelve major agricultural regions in southern Quebec. Our results show that depending upon the agricultural zone and crop type, yields may increase (ex. corn and sorghum by 20%) or decrease (ex. wheat and soybean by 20 to 30%). Also, these crop yield changes appear to be related to acceleration in maturation rates, mainly to change in moisture stress and to shifts in optimal thermal growth conditions. These possible shifts in agricultural production potentials would solicit the formulation of appropriate adaptation strategies.

Potential impacts of a CO 2-induced climate change using the GISS scenario on agriculture in Quebec, Canada

This study examines the potential impacts of a climate change resulting from an effective doubling of atmospheric CO 2 on the potential and anticipated yields of a variety of agricultural crops including corn, soya, potatoes, wheat, phaseolus beans, sorghum, barley, oats, rapeseed and sunflowers and two horticultural crops namely apples and grapes, for southern Quebec. The GISS climate change scenario is used. Our results show that yields would increase for some crops such as corn, soybeans, potatoes, phaseolus beans and sorghum and would decrease for the cereal and oilseed crops, namely wheat, barley, oats, sunflowers and rapeseed. Production opportunities for apples and grapes are enhanced. Also it would seem that the more northerly regions of Abitibi-Témiscamingue and Lac St-Jean would benefit most, in terms of agriculture, from a CO 2-induced climate change.

The penetration of capitalism in Quebec agriculture

The penetration of capitalism in Quebec agriculture

US TENDANCES DE LA PRODUCTIVITE TOTALE DANS L'AGRICULTURE: CANADA, ONTARIO, QUEBEC, 1926–64

This paper measures and analyses the changes in total productivity of Canadian, Ontario and Quebec agriculture for the period 1926 to 1964. The rate of growth in productivity from 1945 to 1964 has been about the same for Canadian and Ontario agriculture while that of Quebec has been higher than either by one per cent a year. Total productivity gains correspond to decreases in the average costs of production at the farm level. Quebec's farmers have therefore improved their relative position as competitors. These productivity gains have important and far reaching implications not only for fanners and the agricultural industry but also for the provinces and the entire Canadian economy.