Tool Shed Brewing Company founder Graham Sherman.

From backyard beer to big time brewing

How Tool Shed Brewing fought Alberta’s liquor laws and won

Reading Time: 6 minutes When Calgary beer maker Graham Sherman was told in 2012 that his plan to start a craft brewery didn’t conform to Alberta’s liquor laws, he got the law changed.  Before 2013, Alberta wouldn’t provide a licence to a prospective brew house unless it could demonstrate the ability to produce 500,000 litres of beer a year.  […] Read more




Grain bins in a Saskatchewan field. (MysticEnergy/iStock/Getty Images)

Less Canadian wheat, more canola on hand to end 2023: StatCan

Some had anticipated even larger on-farm canola stocks, given slower export pace

Canadian wheat stocks at the end of 2023 were considerably tighter compared to the previous year, with oats, corn and pulse crops also seeing supply reductions, according to the latest stocks report from Statistics Canada, released Feb. 8, 2024. However, canola, barley and soybean stocks as of Dec. 31, 2023, were higher compared to the previous year.



Barley market prospects

Barley market prospects

Reading Time: < 1 minute Barley prices have been slipping lower during this crop year. Neil Blue, provincial crops market analyst, says the seasonal pattern of barley prices implies that there should have been a price recovery following harvest, but that has not been the case. The tariff on Australian barley exports to China was dropped in August 2023 and […] Read more



Familiar faces loom large in new Alberta Grains board of directors

Familiar faces loom large in new Alberta Grains board of directors

Inaugural board announced at organization AGM

Reading Time: 2 minutes The newly-formed Alberta Grains has elected an inaugural board of directors consisting of several faces that will be familiar to former Alberta Wheat and Alberta Barley commission members.  The new board – elected at Alberta Grains’ annual general meeting January 31 – includes Tara Sawyer of Acme as chair, Scott Jesperson of Spruce Grove as […] Read more