Reading Time: 4 minutes The changes just keep on coming as the organization representing Alberta’s pork producers marks its 50th birthday. The industry has been transformed again and again since Alberta Pork was formed in 1969, said executive director Darcy Fitzgerald. The top one is the number of producers. “We used to have a lot of farms with few […] Read more
Alberta Pork celebrates 50 years — and looks back at many, many changes
It’s almost easier to ask what hasn’t changed in the pork sector in the last half-century
New body needed to thwart threat of livestock epidemic, says group
Livestock groups and processors back creation of Animal Health Canada to prevent a devastating disease outbreak
Reading Time: 4 minutes Avian influenza, H1N1 flu and now African swine fever have all posed threats to Canada’s livestock sector. And while there are a host of regulations overseen by numerous organizations, it’s a patchwork that leaves the country vulnerable to a devastating disease outbreak, says a group representing both livestock, dairy and poultry associations and leading meat […] Read more
Alberta Beef Producers revamps, elects first female chair
Kelly Smith-Fraser will lead the implementation of major changes for the 50-year-old cattle group
Reading Time: 4 minutes Alberta Beef Producers is entering a new decade with a brand new look. Along with a major overhaul of its structure — shrinking its board, roster of delegates and number of meetings — the organization is being led by a woman for the first time in its 50-year history. New chair Kelly Smith-Fraser paid tribute […] Read more
Zoo takes steps to save beloved, but highly endangered, Prairie bird
Reading Time: 4 minutes Many rural landowners in their elder years may remember the odd and captivating sound made by greater sage grouse males as they courted females. But the once-common sound — variously described as a soft booming, burbling or popping — has been rarely heard for decades as the greater sage grouse population fell to fewer than […] Read more
Alberta Beef Producers in line for major overhaul
Reducing delegate numbers, board size and meetings are part of proposal to engage producers
Reading Time: 4 minutes A year after the disappointing defeat of a bid to increase its checkoff, Alberta Beef Producers’ board wants to put the organization on a diet. The farm group is asking its members to endorse a plan that would cut the board by a quarter, the number of delegates by a third, and the number of […] Read more
Alberta’s new farm safety act gets warm response
New act exempts most Alberta farms from workplace rules, removes right to unionize
Reading Time: 3 minutes There were no surprises when the United Conservative government unveiled its new farm workplace safety legislation — and that’s one of the things that farm leaders like about it. “It’s making farming easier,” Alberta Canola chair John Guelly said in contrasting the new legislation with the contentious version brought in by the previous NDP government. […] Read more
Fundraising tour a timely show of generosity during a tough time for farmers
Three Chords and The Roots music tour hits all the right notes
Reading Time: 4 minutes Country singer Blake Reid saw how this year’s harvest was impacting farmers in his family and his community. Determined to do something to help out, he created a country and roots music tour called Three Chords and The Roots, with 100 per cent of all proceeds raised going to the Do More Ag Foundation, an […] Read more
Not bad feels pretty good for cattle producers this year
It’s far from a banner year but given how things started, 2019 has been better than expected
Reading Time: 3 minutes This year has probably gone better than most cattle producers in Alberta expected. “We started out dry and in a drought, and conditions were a concern early in the year,” said Brian Perillat, manager and senior analyst with CanFax. “But we worked through it and we’ve come full circle. “We’ve got really ample feed supplies […] Read more
New farmland trust aims to preserve good soil
Tax treatment key to saving cropland
Reading Time: 3 minutes [UPDATED: Nov. 26, 2019] A new and innovative effort to save prime Alberta cropland from being turned into another suburb or industrial site is close to becoming a reality. Grain farmer Kim Good and lawyer-rancher Stan Carscallen say the Alberta Farmland Trust should be a registered charity by early in the coming year. And they’re […] Read more
Alberta farmers grapple with a miserable harvest
There simply aren’t a lot of positives for many producers in the province
Reading Time: 5 minutes This year’s harvest was the season from hell for farmers across Alberta. Many will still be combining next spring, drying grain for weeks to come, and their marketing efforts will resemble a salvage operation. And while producers — particularly in central and northern regions — knew their crops were late in developing, Mother Nature did […] Read more
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