Reading Time: 5 minutes “Words without action are meaningless.” Teacher Steven Schultz couldn’t have predicted the effect those words would have when he said them in class one day 15 years ago. But at least one student took them to heart: She decided she wanted to take École Lacombe Composite High School off the electrical grid. She gathered a […] Read more
Students get hands-on education in sustainable food production
Cooking up a successful recipe for improved soil health
Brendon Rockey’s farm is far different than most, but his winning formula has lessons for other growers
Reading Time: 4 minutes In some ways, soil health conferences are like recipe swaps — with attendees always on the lookout for a mix of ingredients that will produce better results. One of those recipes presented at the sold-out Western Canada Conference on Soil Health & Grazing last month came from a Colorado potato grower who farms in high-elevation, near-desert conditions and no […] Read more
Ford recalls Super Duty pickups on post-crash fire risk
Reuters — Ford Motor Co. said Friday it would recall 547,538 of its Ford Super Duty pickup trucks across the U.S., Canada and Mexico, citing the risk of a post-crash interior fire. The second-largest U.S. automaker said the recall covers certain models between the years 2017 and 2019 with carpet flooring that could experience a […] Read more
U.S. seals demise of WTO appeals bench, trade officials say
Geneva | Reuters — The fate of the World Trade Organization’s top court was effectively sealed on Monday after the United States said it would not back a proposal to allow it to continue, trade officials said, although the WTO chief vowed to find a solution. The Trump administration has been blocking appointments to the […] Read more
Vietnam considers CPTPP-level tariff cuts on U.S. ag products
Hanoi | Reuters — Vietnam is considering cutting tariffs on several U.S. products, the ministry of finance said in a statement on Monday, after U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross urged Vietnam to reduce its trade surplus during a visit to Hanoi last month. Tariffs on chicken and processed chicken meat, almonds, grapes, wheat, pork and […] Read more
Spornado causes a whirlwind of new research
There’s an affordable way to detect fusarium or sclerotinia spores — but it’s not one-and-done technology
Reading Time: 5 minutes A device that helps alert growers to the presence of airborne pathogens has been popping up in some Alberta cereal and canola fields in the last couple of years. But while Spornado — and in-crop spore detection in general — is promoted as a tool to take the guesswork out of fungicide application decisions, this […] Read more
Alberta harvest continues, 11 per cent of crops remain
Alberta Crop Report: Conditions as of November 5
Reading Time: 6 minutes Following a cooler than normal growing season, September brought several wet spells, interspersed by two major dry spells, each lasting less than two weeks. In October, wet spells occurred more frequently, with the northern half of the province blanketed with a few cloudy days. Over the past month, all areas in the province experienced below […] Read more
New potato plant a win for Lethbridge
Reading Time: < 1 minute Cavendish Farms’ new Lethbridge frozen potato-processing facility is now open. Company president Robert K. Irving cited the high quality of potatoes grown in the area as one reason why Lethbridge was chosen for its $430-million state-of-the-art plant while Premier Jason Kenney called it “a vote of confidence in Alberta.” The new facility, which replaces an […] Read more
Weather plays nice to see Alberta harvest pick up pace
Alberta Crop Report: Conditions as of October 22
Reading Time: 5 minutes Significant momentum was made in some areas getting crop in the bin this past week, with the provincial average currently estimated at 74 per cent of all crops combined. This jump is primarily attributed to Central, North East and North West regions where 26, 16 and 13 per cent respectively of Major Crop* acres were […] Read more
Interest in irrigation in Alberta heads north
While the lion’s share of irrigation is in the south, some expect a major expansion as far north as the Peace
Reading Time: 7 minutes From the highway, the sign seems out of place. “Now open, Southern Irrigation,” it declares. Down Lethbridge way, it might not be unusual to see a yard full of irrigation pipes and reels of tubing. But Red Deer isn’t exactly the epicentre of irrigation in the province. But that may slowly be starting to change, […] Read more