Reading Time: 2 minutes With clubroot resistance breakdown confirmed in one Alberta canola field — and likely in others — a four-year rotation has become even more critical, even though it won’t stop the spread of clubroot. “Rotation isn’t going to get rid of the clubroot out of the field,” provincial oilseed specialist Murray Hartman said of the field […] Read more
Canola growers crippling clubroot resistance with short rotations
Growing clubroot-resistant canola varieties back to back is causing resistance to break down in Alberta fields
Vet school opens its doors to the public Oct. 4-5
Reading Time: < 1 minute Curious about the world of veterinary medicine or interested in becoming a vet? The University of Calgary’s faculty of veterinary medicine is holding Vet-U-Can 2014 on Oct. 4 and 5. Every two years, the school opens its doors to the community for a behind-the-scenes look at veterinary medicine and to celebrate the role of animals […] Read more
Researcher finds a way to calculate roundworm risk in Alberta pastures
Weather matters a lot when it comes to predicting where roundworm infestations are likely to be worst
Reading Time: 2 minutes A federal research scientist has developed “a hint of a tool” for predicting roundworm risk in Alberta pastures. “The question we came up with late at night was: Can we make a correlation between egg counts, antibody levels, and environmental parameters and build a GIS map that would give us an idea of what the […] Read more
Hemp holds potential for Alberta farmers — if they can grow long-fibre varieties
A new southern Alberta hemp fibre-processing facility will give hemp growers a market for what is currently an unwanted byproduct
Reading Time: 3 minutes A $30-million hemp fibre-processing facility is set to open in southern Alberta this fall, but it won’t — at least for now — be sourcing hemp from Canada. “I’ll be moving into a facility in about two months, and we’ll be operational from there,” said Brett Boag, chief executive officer of Cylab International. “But I’ll […] Read more
Should Ag Minister Ritz tackle the railways next?
Gerry Ritz won the wheat board battle, now it’s time to find a fix for grain transportation woes
Reading Time: 2 minutes Gerry Ritz slew the Canadian Wheat Board, but can he rein in the railways? If anyone can, it’s Canada’s 33rd minister of agriculture. It won’t be easy, but neither was ending the wheat board’s 69-year-old monopoly. Ritz had help. Key was Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who had a deep disdain for the board and made […] Read more
Doing a better job of turning grass into grain — and saying so
Growing more forage is the right thing to do. Is the beef industry prepared if it happens?
Reading Time: 3 minutes If you’re looking for proof that there is no such thing as bad publicity, beef may be a good example. For years it’s been painted as a public health and environmental villain, and recently there were more reports on how bovine frontal and rearward methane emissions are a major source of climate-altering greenhouse gas. All […] Read more
Beef research council putting out the welcome mat for young researchers
Many new researchers are born overseas or are unfamiliar with the Canadian cattle industry
Reading Time: 3 minutes Worried by the prospect of losing rising young stars, the Beef Cattle Research Council is reaching out with a mentorship program that matches scientists new to the Canadian cattle scene with industry vets. “We want to take researchers with great technical skills and make sure they stay within our industry,” said Andrea Brocklebank, executive director […] Read more
BIXS open for business, but only a fraction of producers have signed up
Fewer than 1,000 producers have signed up for the cattle-tracking database, but officials say the revamped system is greatly improved
Reading Time: 4 minutes Fewer than 1,000 producers have signed up for the second go-round of a beleaguered cattle-tracking system — even though it’s free and designed to boost their bottom line. The Beef InfoXchange System (BIXS) is also intended to be the foundation for the “verified sustainable beef” initiative that McDonald’s is piloting in Canada. At the recent […] Read more
The fearless researcher who revolutionized cattle breeding
Roy Berg was once the most reviled cattle researcher in the country — until he proved that crossbreeding could produce spectacular productivity gains
Reading Time: 4 minutes He was an intrepid man whose controversial work earned him scores of critics — but his name will now live on as the research station where Roy Berg conducted much of his revolutionary work on beef cattle. Nearly 300 people — friends, colleagues, former students, industry specialists, and family members — travelled to the Kinsella […] Read more
Late blight confirmed in Alberta
Specific steps needed to prevent carryover of disease to future crops
Reading Time: 3 minutes Late blight is one of the most serious diseases of potatoes and tomatoes worldwide, resulting in significant yield and quality losses annually. In general, in Alberta, late blight occurs infrequently, but can have devastating impacts in the years when it reaches epidemic levels. “In the summer of 2013, late blight was confirmed in parts of […] Read more