Insights and Stories of Dave Bedard

Sep. 2, 2009 at 6:30 pm CDT

A blind taste-test study by experienced food tasters has found 23 of 29 “store-brand” foods that taste as good as, if not better than, their national-brand competitors, according to the new issue of Consumer Reports. The Yonkers, N.Y.-based consumer watchdog magazine’s study found store-brand foods have moved beyond their generic, […]

By Dave Bedard

Aug. 27, 2009 at 11:49 pm CDT

A new campaign laying out the benefits Alberta farmers get for their checkoff dollars aims to encourage farmer support — but also to ensure grain buyers deduct the checkoff in the first place. The Alberta Barley Commission, Alberta Winter Wheat Producers Commission and Alberta Pulse Growers Commission are partnering in […]

By Dave Bedard

Jul. 31, 2009 at 6:08 pm CDT

An independent British review of organic foods compared to conventionally-grown foods has found “no important differences” in the nutritive content, or in any additional health benefits, for organics. The “data mining” study, carried out by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and commissioned by the […]

By Dave Bedard

Jul. 27, 2009 at 3:23 pm CDT

The notion that the food traveling the shorter distance from gate to plate is the most environmentally friendly is being challenged in a new British study and in a Canadian policy paper. Cranfield University, based in Bedfordshire in the east of England, recently released a new comparative life-cycle assessment of […]

By Dave Bedard

Jul. 14, 2009 at 3:15 pm CDT

U.S. seed and ag chem firm Monsanto will take its first steps into wheat breeding by buying Montana wheat germplasm company WestBred for US$45 million. But the St. Louis-based buyer, clearly mindful of the furore over the plans for genetically-modified wheat that it scrapped in 2004, stresses that its immediate […]

By Dave Bedard