Reading Time: 3 minutes Ellen Goddard doesn’t have a crystal ball — but grocery and restaurant chains do and that’s going to drive change in the food sector and agriculture. The name of their crystal ball is called Big Data. Companies are watching consumers like never before via sophisticated tracking software and monitoring of social media. “Most grocery stores […] Read more
Consumer tracking is changing the way people shop — and view food
Four to Watch: Grocery and restaurant chains know more about their customers than ever before, and are ready to offer them whatever they want
Big Data is coming to the cattle business — and that’s a good thing
Reading Time: 2 minutes The future is about collecting and mining data. And beef producers who don’t get on board run the risk of being left behind, says an industry expert. “Information and data gathering will become increasingly important,” said Thomas Lynch-Staunton, Livestock Gentec’s director of industry relations. Lynch-Staunton is involved with what’s called a “life cycle analysis” — […] Read more
Expert says plan your pastures and save yourself some headaches
Heavy seeding and a weed control strategy geared to specific pasture conditions are key for grazing consultant and rancher Graeme Finn
Reading Time: 2 minutes You can’t just let your cows loose on a piece of grass without proper planning and knowledge. “When I take over land, I assess it and see where we need to go,” grazing consultant Graeme Finn said at the recent Western Canada Grazing Conference. “If we have weed issues, then we control them with chemicals […] Read more
Upping biosecurity will pay dividends for years
Reading Time: 2 minutes The hog industry’s response to PEDv was a huge win for animal health, says a veterinarian who was on the front line of the effort in Alberta. “The pork industry already had the highest biosecurity standards out there, but with this disease, we’ve really put a lot of emphasis on it, and people have responded […] Read more
Give up the chase — things you need to know about livestock handling
Cattle are quick learners — so earn their trust by not adding to their fears, says handling expert Dylan Biggs
Reading Time: 3 minutes Want to handle cattle more effectively? Then curb your instincts. “A lot of what we struggle with when it comes to working livestock is just human nature,” Hanna rancher and handling expert Dylan Biggs told attendees at the recent Western Canadian Grazing Conference. Livestock are prey animals and humans are predators. So we follow our […] Read more
A long-overdue return to profitability
Five to Remember: "We couldn't sustain an industry, let alone grow it."
Reading Time: 2 minutes While “nothing stays the same forever,” market analyst Anne Wasko is confident high beef prices will stick around for at least another year. “The cow-calf sector was long overdue for some profitability,” said Wasko, president of Cattle Trends and a market analyst with Gateway Livestock Exchange in Taber. “We couldn’t sustain an industry, let alone […] Read more
Market outlook: Not great, but not horrible either
Four to Watch: Market analyst Chuck Penner figures wheat has upside potential, but a soybean mountain casts a long shadow on oilseeds
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chill out and don’t get too down about the drop in grain and oilseeds prices. That’s the advice of Chuck Penner, owner of Left Field Consulting Services in Winnipeg. First, markets not only swing from lows to highs and back again, but tend to get stuck when they fall into a trough, he said. “When […] Read more
Expert: Neonics are an issue — and also an easy target
Reading Time: 2 minutes Why are neonicotinoids attracting so much attention? The controversy around neonicotinoids is a global one. There are places where neonicotinoids are associated with bee kills and there are places where they are not. The science around neonics and their effects on bees has some inconsistent elements. There hasn’t been any strong colony-level field tests, for […] Read more
Alberta opts for better management to reduce bee deaths
Reading Time: 2 minutes What’s Alberta Beekeepers Commission response to Ontario’s move? Our stance hasn’t changed. We are still very much in favour of working towards a scientific conclusion or solution to what has happened. In Alberta, we just aren’t seeing the same things as they’re seeing out in Ontario. We were very interested in the Pest Management Regulatory […] Read more
Farmers wanted to test sustainability platforms
Reading Time: < 1 minute Updated Jan.9, 2015 – Alberta’s crops industry has developed its own sustainability project: The Alberta Crops Sustainability Initiative. The plan is to encourage farmers to test some of the sustainability platforms created in Canada and overseas to see how they work on Alberta farms. The initiative was developed by Alberta Wheat and Alberta Barley commissions […] Read more
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