Reading Time: 4 minutes The bond between human and horse can be a great comfort, and The Lethbridge Therapeutic Riding Association has found new ways to strengthen that bond during the pandemic. “COVID-19 forced us to be creative,” said Jason Shriner, executive director of the LTRA, a small 30-year-old non-profit. “There were no visitors to the farm, which was […] Read more
Discovering the healing power of horses
Industry and farm organizations fear fertilizer volume cuts
A made-in-Canada approach using 4R proposed as a means for meeting emissions targets
Reading Time: 4 minutes It was a dramatic claim — if Canadian farmers reduce their fertilizer use by the federal government’s proposed 30 per cent, they could lose $48 billion by 2030. It came last month in a release from Fertilizer Canada, which said that, that would be the loss if Canada followed the European model of cutting fertilizer […] Read more
Pandemic had a silver lining for Canadian bison producers
Bison meat is now more widely available, but drought weighs on sector
Reading Time: 4 minutes There has never been more fresh or frozen Canadian bison meat available at supermarkets. It’s a silver lining that came about because of the chaos caused by COVID-19. “Those folks who are involved in federally inspected plants and slaughtering in the U.S. and bringing the product up here, they have been able to identify opportunities […] Read more
Team Alberta calls for more action from the provincial government
The four major crop commissions say the government’s message is that producers will have to rely only on crop insurance
Reading Time: 3 minutes Representatives of Alberta’s four major crop commissions, known as Team Alberta, want producers to know their precarious situation hasn’t been forgotten. On October 13 Team Alberta issued a memo to producers outlining how it “continues to press the provincial government to acknowledge the ongoing situation and find solutions to protect farmers against the mounting risks […] Read more
Edmonton company worming its way into plant food and ag markets
Vermicomposting: The worms turn waste into an increasingly sought-after soil supplement
Reading Time: 5 minutes Note: Her passion for red wigglers is legendary. To date her love letter to vermiculture has sold over 200,000 copies. She was, the Worm Woman from Kalamazoo. Mary Appelhof, a Michigan high school science teacher, is now considered the mother of vermiculture. An environmentalist who saw earthworms as a way to recycle food waste, Appelhof […] Read more
New campaign will stand up for lowly ditches and hidden rights-of-way
These little-noticed strips of land provide wildlife habitat along with several environmental benefits
Reading Time: 2 minutes A ditch may not look like much — but for many game birds it’s a little strip of paradise in an otherwise hostile world. However, producers often decide to farm ditches and rights-of-way — a practice known as ‘trespass farming.’ But a conservation group called Pheasants Forever Calgary is hoping to change attitudes about this […] Read more
New vet school dean brings a lot of expertise — and an entourage
Reading Time: 4 minutes The new dean of the University of Calgary’s vet school arrived with a lot of new ideas — and two dogs, an Icelandic horse, a donkey, a pony, four children and one husband. “They are family members,” Renate Weller said of the four-legged emigrés. “We have had the donkey and his two companion ponies for […] Read more
Land Prices: Interest still high, pocketbooks thinner
Scarce listings get a lot of looks, but drought may curb price rises
Reading Time: 4 minutes The hot weather this summer may cool the price rise for Alberta farmland this winter — but there are still plenty of farmers looking to add acres, say experts. Prior to the drought, the increase in land prices was typical for the first half of the year, said Kuuri Carlson, an appraiser with Farm Credit […] Read more
Could soil electrical conductivity maps give productivity a little jolt?
This easy-to-obtain data could be a way to use fertilizer and irrigation more effectively
Reading Time: 4 minutes You might get a charge out of this — measuring the ability of soil to conduct electricity, turning that info into field maps of moisture, and then using that info to fertilize or irrigate more effectively. Soil electrical conductivity is something that may already be measured on your farm. “Often if farmers are getting their […] Read more
They can be troublemakers, but beavers do a lot of good, too
There are low-cost ways to prevent the busy dam builders from causing flooding and other damage
Reading Time: 3 minutes Beavers have been given a bad rap, but they can benefit the landscape — and there are ways of coexisting with them. “People are beginning to recognize the value of beaver and how they might be able to help us as a society navigate some of the challenges we are facing,” riparian specialist Kerri O’Shaughnessy […] Read more
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