Latest news with #PrinceEdwardIsland
CBC
4 hours ago
- Business
- CBC
P.E.I. Young Farmers Association hires 1st staff member to support next generation of growers
Social Sharing The Prince Edward Island Young Farmers Association, which for decades was run by volunteers from top to bottom, has now hired its first employee as it seeks to support and attract young agricultural professionals. Jamie Ward was recently hired as the association's first program co-ordinator. The part-time role is funded through core funding from the P.E.I. Department of Agriculture. Ward graduated from Holland College's Environmental Applied Science Technology program recently and is continuing her education at UPEI, concentrating on environmental studies. With strong family ties to potato farming in the western part of the province, she said the new role is a natural fit. "It was just my initiative to always try to put a positive impact on the industry, especially having such an interest and such a love for the agriculture industry ever since I was a young kid," Ward told CBC's Island Morning. 'This has been huge for us' As program co-ordinator, Ward will help with governance and financial administration, manage events and advocacy work, and provide administrative and communications support. She'll also focus on building relationships within the sector and increasing mentorship and educational opportunities for young farmers across the province. Robert Larsen, president of the association, said hiring a staff person is a major milestone. The association currently has about 130 members, including young farmers and agricultural professionals. "This has been huge for us," Larsen said. "We're really excited about the next 18 months, next two years, next three years. "We want to keep pushing the needle as best we can, and this will just ensure the long-term sustainability of this organization that will exist well beyond my generation as a young farmer." Listening to young farmers' concerns Part of Ward's role involves hearing directly from young farmers about the challenges they face. A farmer himself, Larsen said the financial barriers to anyone wanting to enter the industry are steep, especially with land prices continuing to rise. "We talk about barriers all the time, and at the end of the day, a lot of it, I think, is capital," he said. To address those concerns, the association has developed a three-phase strategy to consult with members and develop policy recommendations, with Ward supporting that work. The goal is to advocate for solutions with government and industry stakeholders. Agriculture Minister Bloyce Thompson, who played a key role in establishing the new position, agrees young Island farmers face significant obstacles. He said the province will continue listening and exploring potential solutions. "When we see land prices increasing, whether it's low-interest loans for our young farmers, or whether it's looking at different other policies that will help establish and help the exiting farmer as well — that's their retirement... It's a balancing act here," Thompson said. Thompson noted the province has introduced initiatives like the R. Elmer MacDonald Agricultural Scholarship to help P.E.I. residents pursue post-secondary studies in agriculture at Dalhousie University's Faculty of Agriculture in Truro, N.S. That's the institution that used to be the Nova Scotia Agricultural College. Another major challenge is farm succession. Thompson said he's aware how challenging and expensive the process can be, and said the province is committed to working with Island farmers to make it easier. "We have to make it easier," he said. "That's what we want to include the young farmers for. You know, we want to ask them, how will this work? How do you see it working? So we can change our regulations or policies to help build that framework that can make succession easier and more attainable." Looking ahead For now, the association has a series of summer farm tours lined up. The first event is scheduled for July 19 and will include visits to three farms managed by young people in West Prince. More dates will follow, with information available on the association's Facebook and Instagram pages.
CBC
a day ago
- Health
- CBC
Bugs poised to flit into action for the season, P.E.I. scientist says
Humans aren't the only creatures that stay relatively hidden when the weather is lousy. This spring's chilly and rainy weather sidelined insects too, but a Charlottetown-based research scientist says that will change quickly now that the mercury is rising. "They tend to stay quiet when it's cold," Christine Noronha told CBC's Island Morning this week. "If this continues for very long, then it starts to have an impact on their survival and their movement." Noronha works with Agriculture and AgriFood Canada. She said bug survival rates have been "a little bit better" recently because Prince Edward Island's winters have been getting milder. Even when the temperature plummets, bugs can find shelter in plant debris and snow that collects along hedgerows. "With the spring being so cool, the insects are a little bit slower coming out," she said. "They wouldn't be feeding as much as well, [or] just moving around too from plant to plant or from one area to the next. "But [when] it does warm up, then you'll start to see them feeding a lot more, moving, flying around, moving from plant to plant … and also laying their eggs." That's because insects don't generate their own body heat like humans and other mammals do, but depend on external heat sources, Noronha said. "When the sun is shining, you will see some of them sitting in the sun or basking in the sun, kind of. They need that heat to heat up their … wing muscles so that they can fly. "Usually around 15 to 20 degrees is when they start to get really active." That can change even over the course of a single spring day, she said. Bumblebees, for example, are "kind of slow in the early morning when you see them, but then later on in the day, if it's sunny, they'll start moving around a lot more." Now for the bad news. "Mosquitoes and black flies and all that are doing fine," Noronha said. "They have a lower temperature range, so they are fine. They are out there." There is a bright side to that, though. Tree swallows and some other kinds of birds eat those insects, and frogs and minnows feed on the larvae of mosquitoes and black flies. "All those animals are doing fine, so it's just a slower process," Noronha said. "They're not getting as much to eat. But things haven't really come to that point where other animals are more active and insects are not." Another thing that people are seeing, according to Island social media pages dedicated to nature, are very large bees hanging around windows. Noronha said these are probably females emerging from their overwintering spots. "Insects in the fall, they come to the buildings because the buildings have heat and you have heat radiating out," she said. "Now they're searching for a place to start their nest because that's what happens every year… They search for places [where] they could make their bigger nest and have a colony… Eventually they're going to be the queens in the nest." Noronha said it's important for people who spend time in the woods or walking through tall grass to be on the lookout for ticks, which can spread Lyme disease. Wear long pants with long socks on, and check when you get home to see if a tick has attached itself to your skin. If that happens, she said you should remove the tick, put it in a container and get it checked to see what kind of tick it is. That's also her advice if you see an unusual insect around your property. Use iNaturalist or other online resources to find out what they are. "It's only when you know what something is that you can actually control it – or know if you need to control it or not. "The good bugs that are predators, you don't want to kill them, right? You want to keep them in the area."
CBC
2 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Changes to P.E.I.'s energy-saving incentives get mixed reactions
Businesses have some mixed opinions about the changes being made to Prince Edward Island's provincial energy incentives and rebates. The province announced changes to its Net Zero and efficiencyPEI rebates on Thursday, after it paused accepting new applications for some programs earlier in the year. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed to see the rebates for the industry we work in halved," said Steve Howard, the owner of Renewable Lifestyles, a P.E.I. company that specializes in solar electricity products, like solar panels. "But that's the reality of things. When these rebates come out, you can't expect them to be around forever," he said. The province's solar panel rebate offer was paused in February, with no new applications being taken. It has been reactivated, but the amount of money Islanders can get for installing an array of solar panels to power their homes is being capped at $5,000 — down from the previous $10,000. Howard said he expected the rebates to decrease over time, but his main complaint about the change is how the province communicated it. "The real headscratcher is that… this workforce that is capable of installing and transitioning to these green technologies... was just put at risk by the way that they suddenly stopped the rebates, the timing of those rebates," he said. If the change had been made at the end of the installation season, with proper notice given ahead of time, people could have planned ahead, he said. P.E.I.'s energy-saving rebate changes will let infrastructure catch up by slowing demand, some say 34 minutes ago Duration 2:17 A company in P.E.I.'s solar panel industry says the province is putting jobs at risk by cutting a homeowner rebate in half. But some, like Trevor Leeco of Centennial Nissan (shown) say it's good to put the brakes on encouraging the sale of heat pumps and electric cars, at least until the Island charging network and power grid catch up with demand. CBC's Sheehan Desjardins reports. EV incentives down Electric vehicle rebates are among the incentives set to be reduced, but there is still some money to be claimed. For Trevor Leeco, the general manager of Centennial Nissan in Charlottetown, the fact that there is still a rebate at all is good news. "We're very lucky. Some of the other provinces have done away with it altogether," Leeco said. "We were also very fortunate that we did get a little notice, compared to when the federal one went away… So we had a little bit of time to prepare." Leeco said he doesn't expect EV sales to drop dramatically because of the change, but he thinks slowing consumer uptake could be a good thing. "The infrastructure for us to all be electric is not there yet, so I think slower is probably better. And this may slow the pace slightly." Lowering pressure on the grid Provincial incentives for heat pump installation are down, too. But rebates on adding home insulation and replacing windows and doors are set to increase. While that could put more pressure on the construction industry, it could also reduce the load on the electricity grid in the short term, said Sam Sanderson, the executive director of the Construction Association of P.E.I. and a member of the Net-Zero Advisory Council. "[Heat pumps] are a great source of heat, a great source of cooling. But they're also adding, you know, huge pressure on our electrical grid," he said. "Every heat pump we install… adds a little bit more pressure on the demand for power." Insulation incentives could be an opportunity for education, Sanderson said, as more people look into what's actually inside their walls, and how that leads to their home losing heat in the winter and letting heat in during the summer. The province said it will keep an eye on the programs it has to make sure they're working. A re-evaluation will take place in two years, Environment, Energy and Climate Action Minister Gilles Arsenault said.
CBC
2 days ago
- Health
- CBC
New scanners at Charlottetown's QEH will use AI to detect whether visitors are bringing in weapons
Prince Edward Island's biggest hospital has started a trial run of new full-body scanners at its emergency department. The machines are checking Queen Elizabeth Hospital visitors for weapons. Staff told CBC's Cody MacKay that safety for everyone is the top priority.
CBC
2 days ago
- General
- CBC
79-year-old retired priest charged in P.E.I. with sex-related offences from the late 1980s
Rev. Brendon Gallant served more than 15 Roman Catholic parishes on P.E.I. before he retired. Now he's facing charges that go back to the late 1980s, allegedly involving sexual misconduct against a minor. The CBC's Nicola MacLeod explains.
