MarketsFarm — The newly released map from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Canadian Drought Monitor (CDM) shows the Prairies’ ongoing drought getting worse. According to AAFC’s nationwide map released on Friday, southwestern Manitoba, parts of southern Saskatchewan and the southeast corner of Alberta are under CDM’s classification of Extreme (D3) drought as of April 30. Communities […] Read more
‘Extreme drought’ expands in Prairies
Southern Manitoba, southeastern Saskatchewan parched
Specialty crop farmer leverages the power of irrigation
And others will do the same as massive irrigation expansion comes online, says Dale Thacker
Reading Time: 5 minutes If you’ve ever chewed a stick of gum or used a minty toothpaste, there’s a reasonable chance the spearmint inside is from Dale Thacker’s farm. The southeastern Alberta producer has been growing specialty crops — starting with spearmint and expanding into a host of others — for more than three decades. Most depend on irrigation […] Read more
Updated CropChoices$ now available online
Reading Time: < 1 minute The 2021 edition of CropChoices$ is now online. The free budgeting and economic modelling tool can help when finalizing crop plans. The program helps forecast revenues and margins for grains, oilseeds, pulses, specialty and forage crops by using inputs and then calculating the probabilities of achieving the results. The latest edition features current crop insurance […] Read more
More irrigation being contemplated
Reading Time: < 1 minute More irrigation could be coming to Alberta. A study will be undertaken to see if expanding irrigation in the Special Areas and the MD of Acadia is doable, the province says. The Special Areas board and municipality are working with the province and the Canada Infrastructure Bank (which put up most of the money for […] Read more
Major expansion of Chin Reservoir being planned
The Chin will be one of two reservoir expansions in historic 200,000-acre irrigation project
Reading Time: 4 minutes Details of an $815-million irrigation expansion agreement are slowly trickling in. The Chin Reservoir is one of two off-stream reservoirs to be expanded as part of adding more than 200,000 acres to the province’s 1.7 million acres of existing irrigation, an irrigation district official said. “We’re still in the planning stages of how much we’re […] Read more
COAL MINING: Quiet policy change sparks a fast-spreading uproar
Ranchers and landowners unite and gird for battle after province opens the door to new mines
Reading Time: 7 minutes [UPDATED: April 20, 2021] The threat of open-pit mining in the Eastern Slopes has Laura Laing spending hours every day researching everything from coal exploration techniques to selenium contamination. It has Callum Sears frustrated and angry. And they are just two of a host of ranchers and landowners in the southern foothills — and beyond […] Read more
New research funding agency gets first elected board
Farmers make up the majority of the directors overseeing Results Driven Agriculture Research
Reading Time: 2 minutes Like other birthday celebrations this past year, there was not a party. But Results Driven Agriculture Research (RDAR) marked one year of existence by announcing, on a Zoom meeting, the members of its first elected board. The new 10-person board overseeing the research funding organization (replacing one appointed by the province) was elected by its […] Read more
Manitoba soil temperatures allow for spring fertilizer
Winter ban lifted, with cautions
Farmers across Manitoba are now cleared to apply spring fertilizers including livestock manure on their fields, thanks to sufficiently warm soil temperatures, the province said Tuesday. Though the winter nutrient ban has been lifted, the province cautioned producers to “assess current weather conditions and periodically check weather forecasts” if they’re applying anytime between now and […] Read more
‘Actively trying’ to attract value-added processing, says minister
Government says more processing is a priority, but opposition says other provinces pulling ahead
Reading Time: 2 minutes Alberta is lagging behind the other Prairie provinces when it comes to plant protein processing — but the provincial government is working on it, says the agriculture minister. “Whether it’s canola processing, plant proteins, greenhouses, agri-technology, hemp — there are numerous types of commodities that we’re trying to attract value-added investment domestically and internationally to […] Read more
Irrigation mega-project takes next big step
Farmers in southeast back plan for huge expansion of Snake Lake Reservoir
Reading Time: 4 minutes Farmers in southeast Alberta have given a big thumbs up to a major chunk of a historic $815-million expansion of the province’s irrigation system. Three-quarters of the 648 producers in the Eastern Irrigation District who voted in a plebiscite last month cast ballots in favour of an irrigation allotment increase that allows a $170-million expansion […] Read more
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