Reading Time: 3 minutes If you want to raise more environmentally friendly cows, there are several things you can do, say experts. And make money from doing them. Over the last 30 years, the beef sector has improved efficiency by 15 per cent, but it can still do more to reduce methane emissions, said John Basarab, senior research scientist […] Read more
Producers can reduce carbon hoofprint while boosting profitability
‘Gin is in’ — spirit’s sales soar here and abroad
Reading Time: 3 minutes Gin was all the rage in the Roaring ’20s — and it seems the cycle is repeating itself a century later. “Gin is in,” said Matthew Hendriks, distiller at Park Distillery in Banff. This simple message was put on a billboard between Calgary and Banff, and in front of the distillery itself, which opened in […] Read more
UN report on livestock and climate change gets lost in translation
Panel of climate change experts say meat production must be sustainable — but few noted that distinction
Reading Time: 3 minutes “Eat less meat” was the phrase of choice for describing a new report from the United Nations’ climate change panel. Those three words appeared in headlines in publications such as Time magazine, the National Post, and the Times of London. But the report itself said something different, said the science director of the Beef Cattle […] Read more
Hands-on plant breeding: Farmers help select new plant lines
Since 2011, organic farmers from across Canada have been making their own breeding selections
Reading Time: 4 minutes You might call it DIY cereal breeding. Since 2011, plant-breeding researchers have collaborated with organic farmers in a breeding program in which the producers select lines from trials on their own farms. Normally, a breeder goes through a plot, and selects the best spikes, heads or plants according to their breeding goals. “The participatory plant-breeding […] Read more
From farm to fridge? Making cling wrap from canola straw
University of Alberta researchers have found a way to make a food wrap that’s biodegradable
Reading Time: 3 minutes As people try to reduce their use of plastic products, there is a need for items created from environmentally friendly products. Researchers at the University of Alberta may have come up with part of the solution — cling wrap made from canola straw. The product is the only one of its kind in the world, […] Read more
Film about farming women shows how times have changed — and how old stereotypes still linger
Documentary shows how women aren't just ‘farmers’ wives and farmers’ daughters’ anymore
Reading Time: 5 minutes When you picture a farmer in your head, who do you think of? A man wearing a ball cap? Or do you picture a woman? In a new 20-minute documentary, filmmaker Kelsey van Moorsel asks you to “Picture a Farmer.” And the three farmers featured in the first-time filmmaker’s documentary are all women. “I come […] Read more
Wild pigs a growing problem not many seem to care about
Alberta is the only province with a control strategy — but it’s still in the pilot program phase
Reading Time: 4 minutes Since their numbers are unknown and the wily animals are rarely spotted, it’s been easy to ignore the problem of wild pigs. But given their potential to spread disease, that’s a mistake, says the country’s leading — and pretty much only — expert on wild boars. The animals — whose population has mushroomed in the […] Read more
Sustainable beef pilot moving up to the next level
With more than a thousand ranchers and feedlots on board, the challenge is making the operation itself sustainable
Reading Time: 3 minutes A shot of federal funding for Verified Beef Production Plus will help make the running of the sustainable beef program itself more sustainable — while improving it for participating producers. The $602,000 federal grant will help the Canadian Beef Sustainability Acceleration Pilot take a step up and become an ongoing program, said Shannon Argent, business manager […] Read more
Rains bring some relief to hay markets, but not much
Rain and shortages make for an uneven hay market
Reading Time: 3 minutes Recent rains may result in hay prices softening a bit — but not by much, say experts “We have got rains and some of the pastures are rebounding,” said Ed Shaw, a hay exporter from Olds. “The yields are going to be lower than normal because it was a slow season and it got started […] Read more
Livestock sector suspicious of China ban but hopeful
Politics, not fraud, may be behind latest Chinese ban of our exports but officials hopeful it can be resolved
Reading Time: 4 minutes Some sort of fraud or more payback from China? That’s the question facing Canadian pork and beef producers after Beijing banned their products last month. As was the case with canola seed, the official Chinese explanation is that it halted imports because of contamination issues — “pests” in canola and the growth promotant ractopamine in […] Read more
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