Although they only arrived in the Peace three years ago, the tiny bugs caused more than $1 million in damage and are showing up in fields across the province
Reading Time: 4 minutes Producers across Alberta are being urged to check their grade samples and be on the lookout for wheat midge. The tiny bugs don’t usually cause huge yield losses, but some producers in the Peace Country and the southwest corner of Alberta were hammered in 2013 both on yield and grade losses. Damage in the Peace […] Read more
Wheat midge warning issued after ‘huge’ outbreak hammers the Peace
Not a fan of aeration? It could cost you thousands of dollars
Quality can deteriorate within days of grain being put in a bin, but less than half of Prairie farmers are using aeration to protect their harvest
Reading Time: 2 minutes You’ve seeded, grown and harvested your crop. But the job is not over. “Maintaining the grain quality is the final part of the process and what we want to do is maintain the best quality inside that bin, preserving your investment,” said Derek Johnson, sales manager with Ag Growth International (AGI) in Nobleford. “Because there’s […] Read moreDairy and cattle producers urged to have suspect cattle tested for BSE
In the wake of BSE, Canada agreed to test 30,000 brain stem samples annually but officials say test numbers are falling
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada is in danger of breaching its commitment on BSE testing, and producers need to be more vigilant in having suspect cattle tested, say industry officials. Canada made a pledge to the World Organization for Animal Health that it would conduct extensive testing, and that promise has trade implications. “We’ve also made a commitment to […] Read moreScientist extracts value from chickens by using protein byproduct to make glue
Disposing of three million spent hens a year is a major headache for Alberta egg producers, but a protein chemist has an ingenious solution
Reading Time: 2 minutes If Jianping Wu’s technology is commercialized, your wooden chair could be held together by glue made from chickens. The protein chemist and assistant professor at the University of Alberta has developed a new type of glue by recombining the protein components of poultry carcasses. “When people think about the egg industry, they often think that […] Read moreNot a fan of aeration? It could cost you thousands of dollars
Quality can deteriorate within days of grain being put in a bin, but less than half of Prairie farmers are using aeration to protect their harvest
Reading Time: 2 minutes You’ve seeded, grown and harvested your crop. But the job is not over. “Maintaining the grain quality is the final part of the process and what we want to do is maintain the best quality inside that bin, preserving your investment,” said Derek Johnson, sales manager with Ag Growth International (AGI) in Nobleford. “Because there’s […] Read moreVermilion-area rancher recognized for environmental practices
Rancher recognized for efforts that not only preserve the environment but boost pasture productivity and reduce costs
Reading Time: 2 minutes Taking care of his land is a matter of the heart for Sean McGrath. But it works for his pocketbook, too. “It’s a non-debatable, non-negotiable issue,” said the Vermilion rancher. “We’ve learned that if we work with nature, our costs go down and our margins go up. But also our productivity goes up so we […] Read more
Professor says supply management is the best system for dairy production
University of Waterloo history professor says his study of free market systems convinced him they inevitably hurt producers and lead to bailouts
Reading Time: 2 minutes Count Bruce Muirhead as a major fan of supply management. The history professor and associate dean at the University of Waterloo told attendees at Alberta Milk’s recent annual general meeting that supply management is the best system in the world for dairy production, and good for consumers, too. “Australia, the EU and the U.S. overproduce […] Read moreTrains and trade top the agenda for new Grain Growers of Canada president
Gary Stanford says grain can’t be shunted aside even though the railways are moving a lot more oil and fertilizer these days
Reading Time: 2 minutes Grain movement is a top priority for the new president of the Grain Growers of Canada. “The railways are getting so full with new products on the rail that we want to make sure that grain stays a high priority for the railways,” said Gary Stanford, a dryland and irrigation farmer who grows canola, barley, […] Read moreProvince pledges to include Albertans in developing regional land use plans
So far, two of seven regional plans are complete and work on the other five will get underway in earnest in the coming two years
Reading Time: 2 minutes Many landowners are confused and mystified by Alberta’s land use planning process, but the province is committed to being transparent and working with the public, says a top government official. To date, two of seven regional plans have been developed and the government will implement a monitoring, knowledge, and information system to help improve planning, […] Read moreGenomics show promise in battling swine diseases
Reading Time: 2 minutes Researchers at the University of Alberta’s Livestock Gentec centre are using genomics to identify pigs that are less susceptible to disease. Genomics is a discipline in genetics that studies the function and structure of genomes — the complete set of DNA within a single cell of an organism. At a recent conference, Livestock Gentec researcher […] Read more
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