Meteorites feel heavy, will attract a fridge magnet, and have a dark “fusion crust” that is often chipped to reveal the rock beneath.

It came from outer space, but now resides near Camrose

Researchers are trying to find a chunk of an asteroid that likely landed in a farmer’s field near the town

Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s not every day that researchers come to your field to look for space rocks. But that’s what happened to Camrose producer Rod Ross, after a meteor flew across the sky towards his farm on the last evening in August. “We had a rock that was about 50 kilograms, that might have been about the […] Read more

In a new documentary, Mickenzie Plemel-Stronks says grasslands are a disappearing ecosystem that urgently need to be protected — and that cattle are the way to do that.

Ducks Unlimited Canada goes all in to support cattle grazing

Conservation group wants public to know that cattle are key to saving grasslands

Reading Time: 2 minutes Even though they don’t walk like a duck or quack like one, the country’s leading duck organization is pretty fond of cows. “For years, the backbone of conservation in Western Canada has been our cattle-producing partners because of the need for them to have good grass and good water,” said Ducks Unlimited Canada’s Mickenzie Plemel-Stronks, […] Read more


This summer was bad for bees because they fly — and forage — less when the weather is cool. Many Alberta beekeepers are reporting their honey production is down by half this year.

Cool weather, price drop hits Alberta honey producers

A poor honey crop and low prices spell bad times for the province’s beekeepers

Reading Time: 4 minutes This summer’s cool weather didn’t just have a negative impact on grain crops — it meant honeybees weren’t flying. And that has some commercial beekeepers in the province facing a dire economic situation. Most producers have substantially lower honey yields this year, said Connie Phillips, executive director of the Alberta Beekeepers Commission. That was borne […] Read more

You expect to see grain elevators along a rail line but what are those white things? They’re windmill components which have been offloaded at Forty Mile Rail’s Foremost yard while awaiting assembly. This year will be upgraded as part of $9 million in planned infrastructure improvements.

Southern Alberta short line is hauling in jobs and economic activity

Forty Mile Rail purchased a long-abandoned rail line in 2016 and got the trains moving again

Reading Time: 4 minutes A group in southern Alberta has taken back a section of a short line rail, and area communities are enjoying the dividends. “We started Forty Mile Rail back in 2016,” said Lorne Buis, a director of the 75-kilometre-long rail line that runs from Stirling to Foremost. Last month, the group received $4.2 million of federal […] Read more


The Alberta landscape hasn’t changed but the cattle sector has, and that’s prompted Alberta Beef Producers to rethink how it operates. The farm group says it plans to make “substantive changes.”

Having just turned 50, Alberta Beef Producers looks to make changes

Changing the delegate structure and responding to the faux meat craze are two top priorities

Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s not a midlife crisis but having reached the age of 50, Alberta Beef Producers is considering some lifestyle changes. That includes reviewing the way that delegates are chosen, working more closely with both its national parent and its provincial sibling, and seizing “the opportunity” created by Beyond Meat, says ABP chair Charlie Christie. “Our […] Read more

This video posted on YouTube shows animal activists entering a turkey barn at the Jumbo Valley Hutterite Colony on Labour Day. The protesters, who had been dropped off by buses, arrived early in the morning before workers from the colony were on site.

Hutterite colony targeted by animal rights activists

Protesters weren’t part of an existing group and had no issue with the Jumbo Valley colony — other than it raises poultry


Reading Time: 6 minutes On Labour Day, members of the Jumbo Valley Hutterite Colony near Fort MacLeod opened their turkey barn to a scene that no farmer would want to see — their barn was filled with about three dozen animal rights activists. “They just showed up and walked right in,” said Frankie Hofer, manager of the colony’s poultry […] Read more


Flow Hive co-creator Stuart Anderson (flanked by MacEwan sustainability director Kalen Pilkington and beekeeper Troy Donovan) checks
out his creation on the roof of one of the university’s downtown buildings.

You can’t beat the view from these beehives

Flow Hives became an internet sensation and are now a fixture on a downtown Edmonton rooftop

Reading Time: 3 minutes Bees that have called the rooftop of one of MacEwan University’s buildings home since 2016 recently received a special visitor — the architect of their unusual hives. Australian Stuart Anderson, co-creator of the Flow Hive, dropped by the building in downtown Edmonton to see how the urban pollinators like his creation. Anderson and son Cedar […] Read more

There’s room for more cattle in Canada’s beef heartland — but cow numbers here, like the rest of the country, continue to shrink. A shortage of feed means the size of both the provincial and national herd will likely fall further.

Canadian cattle herd numbers continue their long decline

Alberta’s beef herd is down nearly a quarter from its peak, but slaughter numbers are actually up

Reading Time: 3 minutes The Canadian beef cattle herd has shrunk again and is now down nearly 30 per cent from the peak in 2005. As of July 1, there were 10.36 million head on beef operations, far below the 14.74 million head that were around 14 years ago, according to Statistics Canada’s latest survey. “I don’t think anybody […] Read more


Ducks Unlimited Canada and the beef sector share the same focus on “water and grass,” says CEO Karla Guyn.

Conservation group backs beef sector

Ducks Unlimited wants people to see cattle as protectors of ‘threatened wetlands and grasslands’

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ducks Unlimited Canada and the beef industry have a lot in common, and can work together to preserve vital grassland habitat, says the organization’s CEO. “For us, our main focus is on water and grass. It’s the same focus for cattle producers as well,” Karla Guyn said in an interview. The relationship between her organization […] Read more

Ducks Unlimited Canada sees first hand “the steps that the beef industry has taken to be a leader in sustainability,” Mickenzie Plemel-Stronks, the organization’s cattle industry liaison, said in announcing a three-year deal to work with Alberta Beef Producers on public awareness campaigns. She is pictured here with ABP’s Tom Lynch-Staunton.

Agreement shows how ‘cattle and conservation work together’

Ducks Unlimited Canada and Alberta Beef Producers to work together to raise public awareness

Reading Time: < 1 minute Ducks Unlimited Canada and Alberta Beef Producers have signed a three-year agreement to work together to “help Albertans gain a better understanding of how cattle and conservation work together.” The deal to work on joint public awareness campaigns is an acknowledgment their work on issues such as conservation, the environment and sustainable practices is complementary […] Read more