Ten more counties eligible for tax relief

Ten more counties eligible for tax relief

Livestock tax deferral program assists livestock producers who had to cull their herd this year

Reading Time: < 1 minute Another 10 Alberta municipalities are now eligible for the federal government’s livestock tax deferral program. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s initial list of eligible municipalities issued in September has been expanded to include many counties passed over the first time. Municipalities are only eligible for the program if forage yields fall below 50 per cent of […] Read more

The rodeo is gone but Farmfair riding on

The rodeo is gone but Farmfair riding on

Commitment, champion cattle, and commonwealth event hallmarks of post-CFR era

Reading Time: 5 minutes If this year’s Farmfair International had a theme song, a strong candidate would be ‘We are the Champions.’ Not only is champions a theme of the 2018 show — the Champion of the World Week will be a major highlight of this year’s event — but Farmfair itself has had to overcome some adversity to […] Read more


Prarie dog standing next to its hole. These animals native to the grasslands of North America

Don’t ban strychnine yet, says Canadian Cattlemen’s Association

Reading Time: < 1 minute Farmers should still be able to use strychnine to kill ground squirrels until there are “practical and effective alternative controls,” says the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) is proposing to remove the registration of liquid strychnine use for the control of ground squirrels. The animals not only cause crop losses […] Read more

Farmer examining young green corn maize crop plant in cultivated agricultural field

Building the foundation for a sensible food policy

We need to have strong and unbiased science to create approaches that are sensible and sustainable

Reading Time: 3 minutes Food prices are expected to stay low for the next decade or so, according to recent reports from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. That is good news to people who eat, which, of course, includes farmers. But it does remind us that farmers […] Read more


Accompanied by her grandson Spencer Boles (front row, far left), Judy Sweet (front row, second from the left) presents her donation to Josie Van Lent, dean of Lakeland’s School of Agricultural Sciences, and Geoff Brown, associate dean. In the rear (from left to right) are: Ethan Winsnes (sheep unit manager), Hannah Olsen (students’ association president), Brantley Wasmuth (crops assistant manager), Connor English (research unit manager), Jonathan Lange (dairy unit manager), Colton Nickipelo (general manager), Jarrett Hargrave (purebred beef unit manager), and Erica Horner (commercial beef unit manager).

Donation to aid Lakeland College farmland expansion

Reading Time: < 1 minute A $500,000 donation will allow Lakeland College to buy more land for its farm operations. The donation came from Judy Sweet, who had previously donated funds to modernize and expand the G.N. Sweet Livestock Research Facility, which officially opened two years ago. Sweet and her late husband, Garth Sweet, raised purebred simmental cattle for more […] Read more

This photo and the one on the front page were taken at Crooked Lake Farm in the third week of September.:

Opinion: A cheerful wave or sympathetic ear this harvest season really does help

A little empathy will be much appreciated during this year’s long and difficult harvest

Reading Time: 2 minutes Please don’t read this as a complaint; this isn’t meant to be a complaint. With the recent snows in Alberta over the past two weeks, there are a lot of farmers on edge. So many farmers haven’t even turned a wheel in their fields, or if they have, they are either drying their grain or […] Read more


CAQ leader Francois Legault shakes hands with supporters in Quebec City on Oct. 1, 2018. (Photo: Reuters/Chris Wattie)

CAQ’s ag critic among winners in Quebec election

The agriculture critic for Francois Legault’s Coalition avenir Quebec (CAQ) will be among the party’s returning MNAs as it forms Quebec’s next government. The CAQ pulled a majority government in Monday’s election with 74 seats, defeating Philippe Couillard’s Liberals, who were reduced to 32 seats, followed by Quebec solidaire with 10 seats and the Parti […] Read more

Taste-testing during a Canadian Beef Advantage Seminar in Shanghai in 2013. (Canada Beef via YouTube)

Trade pact clause seen deterring China trade deals with Canada, Mexico

Washington | Reuters — China’s hopes of negotiating a free trade pact with Canada or Mexico were dealt a sharp setback by a provision deep in the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement that aims to forbid such deals with “non-market” countries, trade experts said on Tuesday. The provision specifies that if one of the current North […] Read more


For the first 10 or so weeks of their lives, Elk Island bison calves have a reddish-orange colour, earning them the nickname ‘Little Reds.’ Most have mixed parentage but are indistinguishable from purebred wood or plains bison.

‘Wood’ you know what kind of bison that is? It’s plain difficult

Woods and plains bison are impossible to tell apart, but a new genomics test will settle that question

Reading Time: 3 minutes Can you tell the difference between a wood bison and a plains bison? Most people can’t — which is partly why Delta Genomics and a team of collaborators are developing a genomics test that will be able to distinguish the two. “The biggest difference is that wood bison — their natural habitat is restricted to […] Read more

Give your view on livestock welfare

Give your view on livestock welfare

Survey, focus group participation open until Oct. 31

Reading Time: < 1 minute The second phase of the Livestock Welfare Engagement Project is getting underway. There has been strong participation in an online survey, said Alberta Farm Animal Care, which is facilitating the initiative requested by Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. The province wants a better understanding of the “animal welfare landscape.” The second phase will involve five focus […] Read more