Monday, August 16, 2021

Altercation occurs during protest outside Catholic church in Edmonton

Protestors gathered to rebuke Rev. Marcin Mironiuk’s denial of unmarked graves at former residential schools

Anusha Kav · CBC News · Posted: Aug 15, 2021

Protestors tried entering Our Lady Queen of Poland Parish during Sunday mass, but they were met at the front door and pushed out. (Jamie McCannel/CBC)

A scuffle broke out at a church in Edmonton Sunday morning, while protesters gathered there in response to a Catholic priest denying the existence of unmarked burial sites on former residential school grounds.

Over the past several months, ground-penetrating radar scans have revealed thousands of remains on former residential school grounds.

Rev. Marcin Mironiuk, leader of Our Lady Queen of Poland Parish, referred to news of those unmarked burial sites as "lies" and "manipulation" in church on July 18 during and after masses. Video footage of his comments was posted to YouTube, but has since been deleted.

"We're here to tell the truth and we're here to hold him accountable. And we're here to let these people know we're not standing for this any longer," said Elder Taz Augustine, who organized a protest outside the church during mass Sunday morning.

Mironiuk apologized for his comments last week at the request of the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton. He has also been placed on indefinite leave.

But these actions are not enough to address the harm caused by Mironiuk's words, Augustine said.

Edmonton priest apologizes after calling reports of unmarked graves at residential school sites 'lies'

Edmonton priest placed on indefinite leave after denying reports of unmarked graves at residential schools

"When I hear these people walking out of this church justifying his words and saying he's telling the truth, that we're the liars? No," she said.

"He is perpetuating lies. And that apology is not taking that away."

Protestors met with resistance at church

Tensions rose between parishioners and protestors outside the church.

Around 11 a.m., protestors tried walking into the church, and were met with resistance at the entrance. CBC News witnessed people inside the church pushing protestors out, which led to a scuffle where the protestors pushed back.

"Those people assaulted me on my land when I'm defending the children," Augustine told CBC News.

"This is the bull― that we've been putting up with on our land since these colonial people have come."

Taz Augustine, right, organized the protestors. They say they wanted to go inside the church to hear an apology from the priest in person. (Jamie McCannel/CBC)

Protestors said they hoped to enter the church to respond to Mironiuk's statements and hear an apology in-person.

Edmonton police arrived on the scene after the altercation. No arrests were made.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton released Mironiuk's full apology Saturday, alongside a message from the Oblates Fathers of Assumption Province, his Polish superiors.

The statement apologizes for Mironiuk's actions, calling them "careless and improvised."

Mironiuk's full apology stated he will observe a memorial mass every month for the next year, specifically for children who died in residential schools.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission identified over 3,200 people who died at residential schools in its 2015 report.

But records from those institutions are incomplete. An estimated 6,000 Indigenous children are believed to have died at residential schools.

THE RACISM IS STEEPED IN THE POST WW II POLISH CATHOLIC COMMUNITY IN CANADA MANY WITH TIES TO NAZI GERMANY AS GUEST ARBITER OR WHOSE PARENTS/GRANDPARENTS WERE GERMAN SPEAKING POLES AS THIS SOUTHSIDE COMMUNITY IS, I KNOW I LIVED IN THE HOOD THERE.

1 injured after Indigenous protest turns violent at Edmonton Catholic Church

By Radana Williams Global News

Posted August 15, 2021 5:13 pm

Updated August 15, 2021 5:25 pm

A woman says she was hurt during a demonstration outside an Edmonton Catholic church August 15, 2021. Julien Fournier/Global News

A demonstration outside a Strathcona church in Edmonton turned violent Sunday morning.

A group of six First Nations demonstrators said they turned out to hear an apology from a priest at Our Lady Queen of Poland Catholic Church, located at 9906 83 Ave.

Elder Taz Augustine said they were there to hold the priest accountable for saying recently discovered unmarked Indigenous graves are a lie.

“We had a little demonstration, we had signs, and we were telling the congregation that their priest is a liar, so we brought out signs, and we brought out flags to honour the children of the unmarked graves so their voices can be heard.”

Augustine said things turned ugly when they tried to enter the church.

“We peacefully went into the front door, and when we entered into the front door, five or six men came running down the stairs and threw me against the wall and grappled with me and assaulted me,” she said.

“They grabbed the other people, and fists were flying, and they were throwing us out of the church and pushing us out of the church with their hands, and it was actually an assault on me and other people.”

Augustine said her arm was injured in the commotion.

Edmonton police are investigating but have not released information about charges.

Global News has reached out to church officials but calls have not been returned.

The group is planning another demonstration on Aug. 29 at St. Joseph’s Basilica.

“It just confirms to me that people need to understand that we are not going to shut up about this anymore,” she said.

“How do I feel about it? I’m even more pissed off. I’m even more incensed about this nonsense of people telling lies against the unmarked graves. I’m even more appalled that people who say they’re people of God are still attacking us and telling us we’re liars.”

Conspiracy theorists and religious people are more likely to commit a ‘conjunction fallacy’ in contexts related to their worldviews
by Beth Ellwood
August 11, 2021
in Cognitive Science, Conspiracy Theories

A study published in Applied Cognitive Psychology sheds light on how a person’s worldview can lead them to jump to erroneous conclusions in domains that correspond to these views. The researchers found that greater conspiracy belief was associated with increased susceptibility to making logical errors in the context of coronavirus conspiracies, and greater religiosity was tied to increased susceptibility to logical errors in the context of miraculous healings.

The study, led by Albert Wabnegger, specifically focused on the conjunction fallacy, a logical fallacy that presumes that a combination of events is more probable than a single event. Conjunction fallacies were first described by Tversky and Kahneman in 1982, following a study that began with participants reading a description of a woman named Linda who was passionate about social justice. Most participants evaluated the statement “Linda is a bank teller and is active in the feminist movement” as more probable than “Linda is a bank teller” — without knowing Linda’s job title or position on feminist issues. According to probability theory, two events (being a bank teller + being active in the feminist movement) cannot be more probable than a single event (being a bank teller).

Previous research has shown that greater conspiracy belief is linked to an increased likelihood of making conjunction errors. In a new study, Wabnegger and his colleagues wanted to extend these findings by exploring whether specific beliefs would be associated with susceptibility to conjunction fallacies in specific domains. For example, would people who believe in conspiracy theories be more prone to conjunction errors in contexts related to conspiracy theories?

A total of 500 participants completed measures of general belief in conspiracy theories and general religiosity. They then went through an exercise to assess their susceptibility to conjunction errors.

The participants read 18 scenarios and were asked to choose which of two statements was most likely. One statement included a single event (e.g., “The Bill Gates Foundation strives for a high vaccination rate.”) and a second statement included two events (e.g., “The Bill Gates Foundation strives for a high vaccination rate and thus wants to increase its wealth.”). The scenarios were related to one of three domains: COVID-19 conspiracies, miraculous healings, or everyday situations (control condition). All participants read all 18 scenarios, and each participant was scored based on how many times they committed a conjunction error.

Nearly three-quarters (74%) of the respondents made at least one conjunction error when responding to the scenarios. Moreover, susceptibility to making a conjunction error in a particular domain was linked to specific beliefs. For example, those with greater conspiracy belief were more likely to make logical errors in response to the COVID-19 conspiracy scenarios but not in response to the other scenarios. Those with greater religiosity were more likely to make logical errors in response to the miraculous healing scenarios but not the other scenarios. When it came to the control condition, neither conspiracy belief nor religiosity predicted the likelihood of committing a logical error.

Wabnegger and colleagues theorize that when people with a particular world view — such as a conspiracy mindset — are met with information that corresponds to this view, they are quicker to draw conclusions about the information but more likely to make errors. Favoring a conclusion that fits their preconceptions, they ignore basic probability laws or the need for additional evidence.

Furthermore, studies suggest that religious people and conspiracy supporters tend to have a lower tolerance for randomness and a greater tendency to detect meaningful patterns out of random stimuli. Perceiving two distinct occurrences as more probable than one alone may reflect these individuals’ readiness to discern patterns out of randomness as a way of coping with uncertainty.

The authors note that their study cannot inform whether proneness to conjunction errors is a cause of religiosity/conspiracy belief, or whether it might be a response to such belief. They say a follow-up study with a longitudinal design would offer further insight.

The study, “The association between the belief in coronavirus conspiracy theories, miracles, and the susceptibility to conjunction fallacy”, was authored by Albert Wabnegger, Andreas Gremsl, and Anne Schienle.

Sunday, August 15, 2021

Scientists shed new light on the neurochemical underpinnings of consciousness

by Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, Christelle Langley, Emmanuel A Stamatakis, and Lennart Spindler, The Conversation
August 15, 2021
in Cognitive Science

Consciousness is arguably the most important scientific topic there is. Without consciousness, there would after all be no science. But while we all know what it is like to be conscious – meaning that we have personal awareness and respond to the world around us – it has turned out to be near impossible to explain exactly how it arises from the hardware of the brain. This is dubbed the “hard” problem of consciousness.

Solving the hard problem is a matter of great scientific curiosity. But so far, we haven’t even solved the “easy” problems of explaining which brain systems give rise to conscious experiences in general – in humans or other animals. This is of huge clinical importance. Disorders of consciousness are a common consequence of severe brain injury and include comas and vegetative states. And we all experience temporary loss of awareness when under anaesthesia during an operation.

In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, we have now shown that conscious brain activity seems to be linked to the brain’s “pleasure chemical”, dopamine.

The fact that the neural mechanisms that underpin consciousness disorders are difficult to characterise makes these conditions hard to diagnose and treat. Brain-imaging has established that a network of interconnected brain regions, known as the default mode network, is involved in self-awareness. This network has also been shown to be impaired in anaesthesia and after brain damage that causes disorders of consciousness. Importantly, it seems to be crucial to conscious experience.

Some patients, however, may seem to be unconscious when they in fact are not. In a landmark study in 2006, a team of researchers showed that a 23-year old woman, who suffered severe brain trauma and was thought to be in a vegetative state following a traffic accident, had signs of awareness. The patient was asked to imagine playing tennis during a brain scan (fMRI)) and the scientists saw that regions of the brain involved in motor processes activated in response.

Similarly, when she was asked to imagine walking through the rooms of her home, regions of the brain involved in spatial navigation, such as the posterior parietal cortex, became active. The pattern of activation that she showed was similar to that of healthy people, and she was deemed to have awareness even though that wasn’t noticeable in classical clinical assessment (not involving brain scans).

Other research has found similar effects in other vegetative state patients. This year, a group of scientists, writing in the journal Brain, warned that one in five patients in vegetative states may in fact be conscious enough to follow commands during brain scans – though there is no consensus on this.
The brain chemical involved in consciousness

So how do we help these people? The brain is more than just a congregation of different areas. Brain cells also rely on a number of chemicals to communicate with other cells – enabling a number of brain functions. Before our study, there was already some evidence that dopamine, well known for its role in reward, also plays a role in disorders of consciousness.

For example, one study showed that dopamine release in the brain is impaired in minimally conscious patients. Moreover, a number of small-scale studies have shown that patients’ consciousness can improve by giving them drugs that act through dopamine.

The dopamine source in the brain is called the ventral tegmental area (VTA). It is from this region that dopamine is released to most areas in the cortex. In our recent study, we showed that the function of this source of the brain’s dopamine is impaired in patients with disorders of consciousness and also in healthy people after the administration of an anaesthetic.

In healthy people, we found that VTA function was restored after withdrawal of sedation. And people with reduced consciousness who improved over time also regained some of their VTA function. In addition, the dysfunction in dopamine was linked with a dysfunction in the default mode network, which we already know is key in consciousness. This suggests that dopamine may really have a central role in maintaining our consciousness.

The study, carried out in the Division of Anaesthesia at the University of Cambridge, also shows that the use of current and future drugs, which act on dopamine, should help improve our understanding of anaesthesia. Surprisingly, although anaesthesia with ether was first used in surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1846, the specific processes as to how general anaesthetics act at multiple sites to produce anaesthetic action remain a mystery.

But the most exciting aspect of this research is ultimately that it gives hope for better treatments of consciousness disorders, using drugs that act on dopamine.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Solar-Powered Refrigeration Trucks Will Cut Pollution From Idling Diesel Engines

A provider of solar and battery power systems is set to outfit refrigeration trucks with solar paneled roofs that would cut emissions while keeping cool 1,000 trailers full of food.

The transporting of tons of food to local supermarkets are normally cooled by diesel fuel. Idling diesel tractors burn about a gallon of fuel every hour while releasing more than 22 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Under the terms of a new agreement, XL Fleet will supply battery and power electronics systems for the first 1,000 units of eNow’s new electrified refrigerated trailer solutions.

XL Fleet’s mission is to help corporations and their fleets lower operating costs while helping them achieve their green goals.

eNow’s solar systems capture the sun’s energy with roof mounted solar modules, and then store the energy in auxiliary batteries used to power lift gates, in-cab air conditioning, refrigeration and lighting.

Approximately 50,000 new diesel-powered refrigerated trailers are sold annually in the U.S., and XL Fleet’s partnership with eNow accelerates a sustainable all-electric solution.

XL Fleet and eNow are collaborating on the design and development of the system, especially an integrated lithium-ion battery and power electronics technology that will be installed underfloor on the Class 8 trailers, providing approximately 12 hours or more of run time between charges.

Solar panels mounted on the roof of the trailer will be used for charging of the batteries and powering systems when idling or during loading and unloading of the trailer.

The system will be equipped with a thermal management system to enable year-round operation across North America.

CHECK OUT: Instead of Dumping Rejected Food Shipments into Landfills, Truckers Are Donating Them to Local Charities

They can be hauled by traditional internal combustion engine or electrified tractors, as a way for fleet managers to immediately and significantly reduce emissions. Delivery is expected in the first half of 2022.

“We have been collaborating with eNow on critical engineering elements of this exciting next generation electrified refrigerated trailer offering for some time now, and continue to be impressed by the team’s technology, ingenuity and shared passion for sustainability,” said Dimitri Kazarinoff, CEO of XL Fleet.

“This partnership will change the way the transportation industry thinks about energy and refrigerated transportation,” said Jeff Flath, President & CEO at eNow, “to eliminate a major source of diesel fuel consumption and emissions for fleets.”

'Code Red' alert for the climate may put carbon capture in the money

With carbon prices set to reach €100 as soon as the middle of this decade, capture technology is going mainstream as governments push to reach net zero.

Smoke and powder dust pollution from steel mills in China.

SUN, 15 AUG, 2021 - 21:25
RACHEL MORISON AND SAMUEL ETIENNE

Skyrocketing carbon prices and a “code red” warning about the threat posed by climate change are giving fresh momentum to a technology that captures and removes greenhouse gas emissions so they can be buried.

The market for these tools could reach $2 trillion (€1.7trn) if used to cut pollution from heavy industry, according to Credit Suisse.

With carbon more than doubling in the past year and prices set to reach €100 as soon as the middle of this decade, capture technology is finally going mainstream as governments push to reach net zero.

The cost to release carbon has never been higher in Europe, and it is poised to keep increasing, creating a tipping point where preventing the emissions becomes a viable economic alternative.

"Carbon pricing is driving industries to push to adopt the technology sooner,” said Samantha McCulloch, head of carbon capture usage and storage at the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Carbon-capture technology has been around for decades and is used in some industries, but it is expensive, costing as much as $120 a ton in cement production and power generation, according to the IEA.

The process siphons off carbon dioxide from fossil fuels, compresses it, transports it, and then stores it in depleted undersea oil reservoirs.

The number of projects planned around the world has risen six-fold since 2019 to 300, according to Wood Mackenzie.

Carbon prices could reach €100 as soon as 2025, according to Bank of America.

At that level, it is more economical, long-term, for some sectors using natural gas to capture their emissions rather than paying for permits to release them.

“A carbon price of €100 obviously changes the game,” said Simon Virley, vice chairman and head of energy at KPMG and a former UK government official responsible for carbon capture.

Norway and the Netherlands are leading the way in Europe, with the UK in hot pursuit.

“We need to see higher carbon prices to make those projects profitable,” said Anders Opedal, chief executive officer of Equinor, which is developing CCS in the UK, Norway, Germany, and the Netherlands.

It actually needs to be more expensive to pollute than actually capture and store.”

These three nations, spread around the North Sea, have a history of fossil-fuel exploration and production.

Spending by UK oil and gas companies in the North Sea last year fell to the lowest level since 2004.

Britain has the most ambitious climate goals of the G20 nations, targeting a 78% reduction in emissions by 2035.

At today’s power prices, the UK’s largest planned project at Drax Group's biomass station in north England already would be profitable using carbon-capture technology, according to Credit Suisse.

Drax’s project will start in 2027, and by 2030 it will capture and store 8m tons of carbon dioxide a year.

In 2019, the world emitted about 33 gigatons of carbon.

Operational projects are capturing just a minuscule fraction of that, about 40m tons, according to Wood Mackenzie.

There are 19 large-scale CCS facilities in operation today and another 32 in development, according to Credit Suisse.

If these all come online, they could store 100m tons — a slightly bigger fraction.

There is also a chance the technology might not be as effective as promised.

The world’s biggest project, at Chevron's $55bn liquefied natural gas plant in Australia, has fallen short of its target to capture 80% of emissions from the plant, burying just 30% over five years.

“The tech isn’t there yet for large-scale adoption, but our industry has to start changing how we operate,” said Andrew Gardner, chairman of Ineos Grangemouth, which is working with Shell on the Acorn project in Scotland that is scheduled to start in 2027.

The system developed by Oslo-based Aker Carbon Capture costs between €60 and €120 per ton.

It’s a question of when, not if, for CCS becoming economic and coming to the fore,” said Mhairidh Evans, an analyst at Wood Mackenzie.

“The 2020s are about that market development.”

Bloomberg

CCS IS FOR RECOVERING OIL FROM OLD WELLS

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for CARBON CAPTURE

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for CCS

TORY GOVERNMENTS VS OTTAWA

Prairies continue to balk at program improvements

By D.C. Fraser, Glacier FarmMedia
Published: August 12, 2021
Opinion

Disasters, like droughts and pandemics, can force competing factions to work together. The minor changes recently announced to AgriStability once again prove this can be the case, but further co-operation on the file isn’t likely. | File photo

A drought forced the federal and Saskatchewan governments to reach an agreement on AgriStability, but is it a sign of what’s to come?

Near the start of August, the two governments agreed to allow Saskatchewan producers early access to the 2021 payments they are entitled to.

Federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and Saskatachewan’s David Marit issued a joint news release outlining how the move would give producers better access to cash.

As we’ve seen throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, negative forces can bring competing factions together.

In this instance, the drought more or less demanded co-operation between the conservative politicians running Saskatchewan and the liberals running Ottawa.

Apparently, though, it will take more than a drought or global pandemic for the two to truly get on the same page over AgriStability.

Changes to the program have been long debated.

In 2020, Bibeau offered to continue splitting the bill of the program 60-40 with the provinces, while increasing the overall cost of AgriStability by making it easier for producers to access, and paying them more when they receive a payout.

After more than a year of negotiations, provinces agreed in March with Ottawa to remove the reference margin limit from AgriStability, but the prospect of further short-term changes remains dim.

Prairie provinces don’t want to pay more, and are investing resources to explore a whole farm margin insurance program, which would ensure an entire farming enterprise for a margin decline from revenue fluctuations, expense changes, or a combination of the two.

The Grain Growers of Canada are now openly pleading with governments to “put politics aside” and encouraged the acceptance of Ottawa’s offer.

NOT A LEFTY OR PROGRESSIVE ORG UNLIKE THE NFU

In a news release, the group recognized provinces are facing financial challenges but reiterated an investment in agriculture is “more than worth it.”

“This is a time where we must come together,” said GGC chair Andre Harpe. “We need everyone at the table to avoid playing politics and act quickly to provide an actionable and accessible support system for farmers.”

It’s tough for politicians to avoid playing politics, but it can be done.

And, outside of politics, it is tough to understand what else is at play here.

The federal government is willing to unlock $45 million to increase compensation rates to farmers.

To make that happen, the provinces must agree to collectively contribute $30 million.

$10M EACH FROM 3 PROVINCES!!!!

The prairie provinces continue to prevent this from happening.

Any wholesale replacement of AgriStability favoured by prairie provinces won’t become a reality until it can be ushered in with the next version of the federal-provincial agricultural funding agreement.

That isn’t happening until 2023.

Why not make the existing program better now, while you can?

Disasters, like droughts and pandemics, can force competing factions to work together.

The minor changes recently announced to AgriStability once again prove this can be the case, but further co-operation on the file isn’t likely.

The drought that has gripped the western United States is far from typical, says the chief meteorologist of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“This really is a drought of historical significance,” Mark Brusberg told his USDA colleagues in a recent webinar.

In fact, it qualifies as a “megadrought,” since at least some portion of the western U.S. has been experiencing drought since 2000.

“It never really went away and that’s the characteristic of a megadrought,” said Brusberg.

Scientists have discovered a number of megadroughts in the U.S. over the past one thousand years by analyzing tree rings and pollen records.

This one appears to be a doozy. It ranks as the second worst on record, next to one in the late 1500s.

“You have to go back 500 years to see dryness to this extent and this severity,” he said.

Drew Lerner, president of World Weather Inc., thinks Brusberg is blowing things way out of proportion.

“We don’t have good records of what took place thousands of years ago. Come on,” he said.

Lerner also bristles at using the term megadrought to describe what’s going on in the western U.S.

“It’s so inflammatory and so out-of-line with what data we have. It’s irresponsible,” he said.

“They’re trying to scare the world to death and they’ve got very little data to base it on. It ticks me off.”

Brusberg firmly believes the western U.S. is in the midst of a megadrought caused by the “profound warming” trend over the past 30 years due to climate change.

Water levels in Lake Mead, the largest water reservoir in the U.S., have fallen 43.6 metres between June 1998 and June 2021. It is now at 36 percent of its capacity.

If the megadrought lasts another 10 or 20 years the lake will be in danger of falling below the level at which Hoover Dam can generate electricity.

In California’s Central Valley people have drilled so many wells that the land is starting to sink as aquifers compress.

“Think about flattening a sponge,” said Brusberg.

Lerner said the situation in the western U.S. is tightly associated with the 22-year solar cycle and is something that has happened many times before.

It is not out of the ordinary but is garnering an inordinate amount of media attention this time around because populous states like California have become massive consumers of water.

“The amount of water demand needed for agriculture has gone through the roof,” he said.

One thing both of the weather watchers agree on is that there is definitely a significant drought happening in 2021.

The latest map shows much of the western U.S. and the Northern Plains regions are experiencing extreme to exceptional drought.

The USDA is forecasting a national average spring wheat yield of 30.7 bushels per acre, the lowest since 2002.

The good news is that the ridging and dryness in the western half of the country has resulted in wet conditions in the eastern half.

“Whenever you have one dominant pattern over one part of the country you usually see a compensation in another part of the country,” said Brusberg.

That is why winter wheat yields are forecast at 53.6 bu. per acre, the second highest on record.

So while farmers in the Dakotas are looking at severely reduced yields, their counterparts in Illinois are poised to harvest what could be a record crop of corn and soybeans.

The bad news is that Brusberg thinks the current megadrought might not have an end like the previous ones, which were often followed by prolonged wet spells.

He thinks this one could be perpetual due to climate change, so farmers might have to get used to living with more of the same hot and dry conditions.

Lerner thinks that is a load of bunk, although he does believe the drought will persist into 2022 in both the U.S. and Canada.

He is forecasting another tough spring and early summer in the eastern portion of the Canadian Prairies next year.

But there should be some relief later in the growing season as the U.S. drought expands further into the western corn belt, pushing the ridge further east.

At that point there should be some better rains in Saskatchewan and southern Alberta.

Lerner is not forecasting a megadrought that lasts another 10 or 20 years for either Canada or the U.S. and he firmly believes there will be return to wet conditions in the not-to-distant future.

WESTERN PRODUCER

Booming grasshopper populations destroying already beleaguered Prairie crops

By Brittany Hobson The Canadian Press

Posted August 11, 2021

Hordes of grasshoppers have invaded Lethbridge, Alberta, terrifying people as the insects ravage crops and multiply like never before. Heather Yourex-West explains how climate change is a factor in this population explosion, and why even more grasshoppers could be bugging the city in 2022 – Aug 2, 2021

A pattern of dry, hot weather across the Prairies over the past few years has resulted in a grasshopper infestation of epic proportions, with some experts saying the nuisance is negatively affecting every part of the agriculture industry.

For several weeks, communities and rural areas across southern Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have been reporting a higher than usual number of grasshoppers inhabiting grassy areas and feasting on crops — something that hasn’t been seen since the early 2000s.

“The grasshoppers seem to be the biggest story this year,” said Todd Lewis, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan.

“It’s an issue in timing and unfortunately the timing has been right for grasshoppers this year.”

In Manitoba, Brenna Mahoney says she witnessed what she can only describe as a “biblical” number of grasshoppers while visiting a community in the southwestern part of the province late last month.

READ MORE: Southern Alberta farmers battle surge in grasshoppers: ‘They’ve been really bad’

Mahoney is the general manager of Keystone Agricultural Producers, a farm policy organization in Manitoba.

“It was just the magnitude of how many. Driving around the highway and it was raining grasshoppers,” Mahoney said in an interview.

“I had to use my winter scraper to clear off the windshield of my car.”

Mahoney is careful not to sound alarmist when recalling her story but she said grasshoppers have become a serious challenge for producers who are already having a tough year.

She said the drought problem has had a dramatic impact on the sector, however, it’s actually grasshoppers that make up most of the problems many farmers are facing.

When it’s hot, grasshoppers move faster and feed more.

Video captures swarm of grasshoppers at Las Vegas parking lot – Jul 27, 2019

The abnormal heat wave that many parts of Western Canada have experienced created an environment where the insects could blossom, said Dan Johnson, an environmental professor at the University of Lethbridge.

There are about 90 different species of grasshoppers in the Prairies, but only five of them are considered pests that can decimate crops and fields if their population sizes get out of control.

Researchers say one of the problem pests is the two-striped grasshopper, which feeds on cereal and broad-leafed crops such as canola.

READ MORE: Prairie farmers pray for rain as drought, grasshoppers ravage crops and pastures

In Manitoba, the government has found there has been a large increase in potential pest species in different pockets of the province. As a result, yields and forage production are being affected.

“A lot of the natural vegetation isn’t as robust as it should be. People like to cut their ditches and in some cases … the grasshoppers move into the crops once that happens,” said John Gavloski, an entomologist with the province.

Mahoney said farmers need to get in front of the problem by controlling the grasshopper population.

The only way to do this is to use pesticides but there is no technology to target specific species so farmers must be educated on the type of grasshopper they may be dealing with.

Mahoney said the other issue is the financial aspect of using pesticides. It’s an expensive burden for many farmers, especially in a growing season already cut short.

Southern Alberta farmers battle surge in grasshoppers: ‘They’ve been really bad’ – Jul 13, 2021

In Saskatchewan, many farmers have had to complete harvest early by a month.

“The crop is under stress because of the heat and lack of rain, and then these pests come along and eat what has managed to grow. Farmers just want to get the harvest wrapped up,” said Lewis, who farms outside of Regina.

It’s not just cereal crops that are bearing the brunt of the insects’ appetite. In some areas, they are wreaking havoc on pastures meant for livestock.

Johnson said some farmers have had to resort to buying expensive hay to feed their cattle in British Columbia. Mahoney has also seen this in parts of Manitoba.

While this year has been challenging for producers, experts believe that if the fall brings warm temperatures and the dry, hot weather continues next summer the grasshopper problem will be even more severe.

Johnson said in previous outbreaks cars would slide off the road because of the heavy amount of grasshoppers on roadways.

I LIVED THROUGH A LETHBRIDGE GRASSHOPPER PLAGUE WHEN I WAS AT THE U OF L IN 1979.

Saskatchewan

Prairie farmers struggle as drought set to become among worst in Canadian history

'Production is down to almost nothing,' Sask. farmer says

Bonnie Allen, Theresa Kliem · CBC News · Posted: Aug 14, 2021

Farmer Derek Tallon stands in one of his lentil fields near Lafleche, Sask. Tallon is harvesting the worst crop he's ever grown and expects his overall production to drop by 75 per cent this year. Tallon says he is disappointed but accepts 'the inherent risks' of farming. (Richard Agecoutay/CBC News)

Saskatchewan farmer Derek Tallon is harvesting one of the worst lentil crops he's ever grown.

Like other farmers in the region, he watched his crops struggle to grow without much rain or reprieve from unrelenting heat during what one expert says is shaping up to be the worst drought in Canadian history.

Tallon's farm in southern Saskatchewan only received about 50 millimetres of rain this year, compared to 190 millimetres during a normal year.

"This should probably be some of our weakest stuff," he said, scooping up a fistful of dried plants.

University of Saskatchewan Prof. John Pomeroy predicts more frequent and severe droughts in the Prairie region by the late 21st century. (Richard Agecoutay/CBC News)

"There's only a handful of lentils here. The grasshoppers have shelled out a lot of what was here on to the ground and chewed off a lot of the leaves. Production is down to almost nothing."

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The 40-year-old and his father farm about 16,000 acres near Lafleche, which is about 200 kilometres southwest of Regina. They grow a mix of grains, pulses and oil seeds.

They have only been able to produce five bushels of lentils an acre this year, a far cry from their long-term average of 27 bushels an acre, says Tallon.

"We are probably only at about a quarter of a normal crop [in this region], maybe in certain areas even less than that," he said.

Tallon says he is disappointed but accepts "the inherent risks" of farming.

Drought could become worst in Canadian history

This year's drought is on its way to becoming the worst the Prairies have ever recorded and the worst ever in Canada, according to John Pomeroy, Canada research chair in water resources and climate change at the University of Saskatchewan. It is already worse than a severe drought in 1961, he said.

"It's early to call it the most severe [drought] at this point, but it certainly has all the hallmarks of heading in that direction," Pomeroy said.

Canada is one of several areas in the world affected by droughts. To the south, severe droughts have hit the western half of the United States. (U.S. Drought Monitor)

A decade-long drought hit Saskatchewan in the 1930s, but areas like northern Alberta and northern Saskatchewan were unaffected at the time, he said.

"There are no areas like that now," said Pomeroy.

Temperatures in July were three to four degrees hotter than normal while the amount of precipitation was one of the lowest on record, he said.

"When you combine those two, then it looks like the most severe drought is emerging ever experienced over the Prairies," he said.

The conditions extend beyond Canada, he said, with severe droughts in the western half of the United States, the Mediterranean region, Kazakhstan and Russia, as well as years of drought in Australia.

Heat, wind, grasshoppers and very little rain have resulted in major production loss for Saskatchewan farmers. (Richard Agecoutay/CBC News)

The consequences for food security could be "quite severe," he said.

Farmers who manage to squeeze out an average harvest this year could end up doing quite well as grain prices continue to soar, fuelled by low supply.

That's giving Tallon something to look forward to.

"We could be looking at high grain prices next season and that's our hope right now — we grow a crop next year and we capitalize on the price increases we've seen," said Tallon.

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'Crop failure on our hands'

About 25 kilometres east, near the village of Limerick, farmer Barry Reisner also tries to remain positive.

"Farmers are resilient," he said. "We've had a number of good crops in the last 10 years or so, and it shouldn't be a surprise that they can't all be good."

In his 50 years of farming, Reisner says he has learned to accept the bad with the good, and to manage risks with insurance and other strategies.

Still, it's tough to swallow.

"We just haven't had enough rain to produce a crop, so we have a crop failure on our hands," he said. "It's hard to see your efforts going down the drain."

He says he worries about other farmers who may face financial penalties after signing contracts guaranteeing shipments and price with grain companies months ago.

"Farmers who have signed those contracts don't have the grain to deliver, and they have a commitment that they can't meet," said Reisner.

This is already the second severe drought Saskatchewan has experienced since the start of the century, after one in 2001-2002.

The future for farmers remains uncertain, with predictions of more extreme droughts as well as floods.

"Under some of the business-as-usual scenarios, it shows Saskatchewan warming up by six to seven degrees by the end of the century from what we are now, which is already too warm," said Pomeroy.

With files from Richard Agecoutay

Monday, August 16, 2021

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