Research Facility Testing Manitoba-Grown Foods As Medicine

Jul 02, 2015

A research facility at the University of Manitoba is hoping to prove that food can be your medicine.

The Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals (RCFFN) is looking at ways at replacing some of the drugs that we use with natural products that are grown on the prairies.

Director Dr. Peter Jones explains the mission of the facility.

"Our centre is actually governed by a mission that looks at how we can take commodities such as barley, wheat, canola, flax, pulses and basically extract or refine some of the almost medicinal properties and what we call 'healthy ingredients' to be used in foods in a way to be able to replace some of the pharmaceuticals that we depend on."

Source : PortageOnline

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.