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Conservative's Call For Rapid Testing Pilot For Agriculture

There's a renewed push on Ottawa to do more when it comes to streamlining the process for international farm workers when it comes to COVID.
 
The Conservative Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Lianne Rood feels more needs to be done to reduce the isolation times for workers when they arrive.
 
"Something I've been asking the Federal Health Minister for, and also Provincial Health Ministers, is a rapid testing pilot project for instance for workers. Particularly in fruit and vegetables who are coming into greenhouses and starting the season in January."
 
Rood says we can't have a repeat of last year when a farmer lost his entire crop of cucumbers because the entire group of workers he had there had to isolate for two weeks and no one was allowed into the green houses.
 
She notes international farm workers designated to help in greenhouses are starting to arrive now.
 
The Liberals have issued a blanket requirement for all international travellers, including farm workers, to test negative for COVID before boarding a flight to Canada, but she says they've done nothing to reduce the isolation times for workers when they arrive.
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Alberta Honey: A Day at Molenkamp Honey Farms

Video: Alberta Honey: A Day at Molenkamp Honey Farms

When was the last time you read the label on your honey?

We spent a day at Molenkamp Honey Farms with Michael Molenkamp, who has been keeping bees for 17 seasons and runs three to four thousand hives. In mid-September, he was finishing treatments and getting his bees ready for winter, and he walked us through how Alberta honey gets made.

Alberta has just 150 commercial beekeepers running 300,000 colonies, and together they produce 40% of Canada’s honey. Long summer days and golden canola fields give Alberta honey a light flavour that’s hard to match anywhere else.

Molenkamp calls Alberta beekeepers some of the most resilient farmers he knows. There’s plenty of Alberta honey to go around, but a lot on our shelves isn’t from here, so his ask is simple. Give the label a second look and choose honey made by Alberta beekeepers, or buy straight from a beekeeper near you.