Reading Time: 3 minutes Rice farming tends to conjure images of watered-filled paddies, water buffalo and sunlight breaking through lush south Asian greenery. But a researcher has set out to grow rice in southern Alberta, although “it’s a little early to be excited about it,” said Michele Konschuh, a University of Lethbridge irrigated crop scientist. She is working with […] Read more
Sounds like a long shot but rice could actually be a fit for Alberta
Researchers are trying to grow rice here at the request of a Calgary food ingredient company
Avian flu circles back in Western Canada
All western provinces book new cases in commercial birds
A relatively quiet summer for highly pathogenic avian influenza in Canada has turned for the worse, with outbreaks on commercial poultry farms in all four western provinces in the past week alone. Cases of high-path avian flu in domestic birds in Canada confirmed and reported by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency since Aug. 31 include: […] Read more
Ontario halal processor to buy poultry packing capacity
Amir Quality Meats taking up Wellington Poultry
An Ontario meat processor specializing in the halal market has a deal in place to boost its capacity by buying a nearby chicken and specialty fowl packer. Amir Quality Meats, which operates a federally registered HACCP-certified boning and cutting plant at Brampton, has an agreement in place to buy the processing plant and “associated supply” […] Read more
U.S. working with U.N. on Russia food, fertilizer export complaints
Black Sea pact up for renewal in November
New York | Reuters — The United States is working with the United Nations to address Russian complaints that sanctions are hindering its food and fertilizer shipments, even though there has been no disruption to Moscow’s exports of the commodities, a senior U.S. official said on Friday. The United Nations, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia agreed […] Read more
Alberta Open Farm Days celebrates 10 years of education and fun
“We try to show them as much as we possibly can during their visit.” – Charlotte Wasylik
Reading Time: 4 minutes Educating consumers about where their food comes from can be a daunting task — but not at Alberta Open Farm Days. “I think for a lot of people, farming was something they wanted to get away from,” said Charlotte Wasylik of Chatsworth Farms, a mixed family enterprise in east central Alberta. [PHOTO GALLERY] Open Farm […] Read more
PHOTOS: Open Farm Days: A visit to Chatsworth Farms and Hartell Homestead
Reading Time: < 1 minute Chatsworth Farms and Hartell Homestead were two of 117 farms that welcomed visitors on Open Farm Days. Here’s a closer look at these two enterprises. (Photos courtesy of Chatsworth Farms and Hartell Homestead.)
Produce prices spike in flood-hit Pakistan as food crisis looms
Flooding wrecks crops, hampers logistics
Lahore | Reuters — Vegetable and fruit prices have soared in markets across Pakistan as devastating rains ruin crops and disrupt supplies, an early sign of how the worst floods in decades are creating food shortages at a time of financial crisis. Pakistan’s 220 million people are already facing rampant inflation, with consumer prices up […] Read more
Vacant office space may be the next frontier in Alberta farming
Company setting up indoor farm in Calgary Tower says vacant office space offers an opportunity
Reading Time: 3 minutes A prominent Calgary landmark will soon be the site of a large indoor aeroponics farming operation. About 65,000 square feet of former second-floor office space at the Calgary Tower Centre is being converted into a vertical farming operation that will grow strawberries, cucumbers, tomatoes, leafy greens and melons. “The produce we’re really interested in growing […] Read more
Olds researchers aim for better brew of malting barley varieties
Breeders aim for a package that keeps both the farmers and the customers happy
Reading Time: 2 minutes Plant breeders have many challenges, but malting barley breeders have an extra one. Customers sometimes like their varieties so much that they’re reluctant to change to ones that are better for farmers. “We are looking at things that are not only going to be good in production and give farmers higher yields and ultimately more […] Read more
Schoepp: There has been a big price to pay as farms expanded
Reading Time: 3 minutes The rapid expansion and increase in farm size have had a large societal cost as enterprises grew and the communities they once supported began to shrink. The demise of small towns is not so much from the past attrition of young people leaving for the city as from the lack of a nearby rural population […] Read more
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