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
New farmland trust aims to preserve good soil
Tax treatment key to saving cropland
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
New grazing lease plan a win for producers, say cattle groups
The groups feared long-frozen rental rates would be seen as a subsidy and lead to a countervailing duty
Reading Time: 3 minutes Grazing leases are about to change for the first time since 1994 after years of work by Alberta Beef Producers and the seven grazing lease associations in the province. The quarter-century-old system could have attracted potential tariffs on Canadian cattle, so the changes were necessary, said Rich Smith, executive director of Alberta Beef Producers. “The […] Read more
Speaking with one voice is a win for farmers, says Team Alberta
New joint website is the latest effort by four main crop commissions to ‘amplify’ their shared policy positions
Reading Time: 3 minutes The province’s four main crop commissions have taken another step towards speaking with one voice. The quartet — which collectively has 20,000 members — came together four years ago to form Team Alberta when the urban-centric NDP came to power. “We found it easier to talk to the new people who wanted information on agriculture […] Read more
Sniffing out trouble — canines trained to detect clubroot in the field
Josie and Adi blaze new path for quickly determining if a field is infected with the devastating canola disease
Reading Time: 4 minutes Any dog lover knows that dogs can do amazing things. Add to that list the ability to detect clubroot in canola. “The idea behind using dogs as detectors has been around for quite a long time. Using them to detect crop diseases has been around for the last five years or so,” said Michael Harding, […] Read more
Having a national strategy is working, say beef leaders
Sustainable beef effort, more funding, and greater industry co-operation cited as examples of progress
Reading Time: 3 minutes Having a national beef strategy has paid dividends and that’s why the sector has revised and updated it, say beef leaders. “This is an ongoing plan for the industry,” said Anne Wasko, chair of the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, one of seven groups behind the strategy. “The vision of the national beef strategy is […] Read more
The need keeps growing for rural Alberta food banks
Reading Time: 3 minutes Times have been tough in Alberta, and that’s been obvious to volunteers at the Mayerthorpe Food Bank. There are just over 500 homes in the town but in many, it’s a struggle to put food on the table. “We serve about an average of 14 families a week,” said Tammy-Lee Gilroy, the food bank’s administrator. […] Read more
Province eases up on new Class 1 licensing rules but controversy persists
The Humboldt bus crash has thrust training of semi drivers into question but there’s no easy fix
Reading Time: 4 minutes The province is exempting drivers who recently sought to obtain a Class 1 licence from costly new training requirements — but the controversial issue is far from settled. “It’s kind of nice that they’re relaxing it for a few people — I hope they have more coming,” said Kendall Bevans, a Cardston-area farmer who has […] Read more
Film celebrates not just grass, but a special, overlooked habitat
Documentary shines a spotlight on grasslands and why they need to be protected and cherished
Reading Time: 3 minutes Not all superheroes wear capes — some put on work clothes and graze cows. Ranchers are the stars of a new mini-documentary called “Guardians of the Grasslands” and their mission is to protect this fast-disappearing habitat. Three-quarters of the country’s native grasslands have already been lost, and cattle are key to protecting those that remain […] Read more
The behind-the-scenes effort to tell beef’s story
Besieged beef sector aims to fight hyperbole with facts
Reading Time: 4 minutes It can seem like the ‘beef is bad’ crowd is scoring all the points in the battle to influence consumer attitudes. But the beef sector is fighting back — even if its efforts don’t get the same kind of headline-grabbing attention. One of the main initiatives is being conducted by the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association that […] Read more