Reading Time: 3 minutes Paul Wipf has a passion for safety and has always wanted to raise awareness about farm safety on his colony. That prompted the farm manager of Viking Colony to partner with a workplace health and safety consultant to develop a first-of-its-kind safety program specifically for Hutterite colonies. “This has been in my heart and mind […] Read more
Hutterite colony creates first-of-its-kind farm safety program
The Viking Colony is partnering with a safety expert to create a program geared to Hutterite colonies and their diverse enterprises
The heat’s been on for months — and there’s no end in sight
You could almost say winter ended three months ago, and the long-range forecasts are for more hot, dry weather
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s been a rather remarkable spring across Alberta this year. Looking back at the weather records for 2016 you could almost say that spring arrived in February, with temperatures running over 6° above long-term averages. Those mild temperatures continued into March, with mean temperatures that were around 5 degrees above average. The big question after such […] Read more
Farming uses exempt from Alberta off-roading ban
Alberta’s new provincewide ban on recreational use of off-highway vehicles (OHVs) in provincial parks and on other public lands won’t apply to their use in farm work. The provincial government announced the temporary OHV ban Friday as “another tool… to help prevent the spread of wildfires,” on top of Thursday’s provincewide fire ban and its […] Read more
Kazakh president meets farmland protests with reshuffle
Astana | Reuters — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, facing opposition calls for a demonstration in the business centre Almaty, completed a government reshuffle initiated this week in response to street protests against farmland privatisation plans. Economy minister Yerbolat Dosayev and agriculture minister Asylzhan Mamytbekov, whose ministries were behind the planned land reform, both resigned after […] Read more
The battle against invasive mussels is unending
Zebra and quagga mussels would cause $75 million in damage annually if they got in Alberta waterways
Reading Time: < 1 minute Efforts to keep invasive mussels out of Alberta have been successful so far, but the threat is unending. “Inspectors at the Coutts inspection station near the Montana boarder have already intercepted one mussel-fouled boat since opening for the season in March, and it is expected that this will be only one of many such incidents […] Read more
Two $1,000 OYF scholarships available
Reading Time: < 1 minute Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers Program has two $1,000 scholarships to help students pursue a post-secondary education. One OYF Memorial Scholarship is for a new high school graduate and the other for someone who has already completed at least one year of post-secondary study. Students must be in an agriculture diploma or degree program. Each applicant […] Read more
P.E.I. brings provincial vet job in-house
Relying until now on the services of the Atlantic Veterinary College, Prince Edward Island’s government has named a new in-house provincial veterinarian. The province on Tuesday named Dr. Carolyn Sanford to fill the post, in which she’ll oversee policy and regulatory issues related to animal health and welfare, including livestock and poultry as well as […] Read more
Maple Leaf dishes up first-quarter profit
Reuters — Canadian meat processor Maple Leaf Foods reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by higher earnings in its prepared meats business. Adjusted operating earnings in the meat products segment rose nearly eight-fold to $61.3 million in the Toronto company’s first quarter, helped by lower operating costs and price increases. The company, whose brands include […] Read more
Stress a bison and someone will pay
Some call them athletic, others say ‘suicidal,’ but all agree that wild is the default mode for bison
Reading Time: 4 minutes Bison producer Ivan Smith doesn’t go anywhere without a butcher knife and a rifle in his truck. “Anything can go wrong when you’re dealing with an animal that’s this athletic,” said Smith, who operates Big Bend Bison Ranch near Innisfail. “It’s just the nature of the bison. They’re not meant to be captive, so when […] Read more
It’s a good year for applying for a Century Farm & Ranch Award
Reading Time: < 1 minute One of the challenges for the popular Alberta Century Farm & Ranch Award program is authenticating historical ownership of land. The award recognizes farm families that have continuously owned and actively farmed or ranched an original parcel of land for 100 years or more, said program co-ordinator Lillian Chan. Chan has become very familiar with […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
