Agriculture This Week: Climate change will be ongoing ag issue

Sep 23, 2022

There are topics columnists tend to touch upon with some regularity.

For example, for years the battle to either save, or dismantle, the Canadian Wheat Board, depending on who was talking, led to regular columns for many who wrote about the issues of the farm sector.

Moving forward there is little doubt climate change will be an oft written of topic.

There is little likelihood that climate change is some great hoax perpetrated by some cabal with an agenda known only to themselves and a few conspiracy theorists. It would be nice if it actually was just a story seeded to create fear, but the evidence of change is mounting.

You might still want to argue it’s a natural occurrence, but that is a somewhat hollow argument to make, because in the end it’s the impact of the changes we should be fearful of.

Video: Finding a Balance of Innovation and Regulation - Dr. Peter Facchini

Regulations help markets and industry exist on level playing fields, keeping consumers safe and innovation from going too far. However, incredibly strict regulations can stunt innovation and cause entire industries to wither away. Dr. Peter James Facchini brings his perspective on how existing regulations have slowed the advancement of medical developments within Canada. Given the international concern of opium poppy’s illicit potential, Health Canada must abide by this global policy. But with modern technology pushing the development of many pharmaceuticals to being grown via fermentation, is it time to reconsider the rules?

Dr. Peter James Facchini leads research into the metabolic biochemistry in opium poppy at the University of Calgary. For more than 30 years, his work has contributed to the increased availability of benzylisoquinoline alkaloid biosynthetic genes to assist in the creation of morphine for pharmaceutical use. Dr. Facchini completed his B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Biological Sciences at the University of Toronto before completing Postdoctoral Fellowships in Biochemistry at the University of Kentucky in 1992 & Université de Montréal in 1995.