Reading Time: 3 minutes A Supreme Court ruling that puts cleanup ahead of creditors is a step forward — but won’t “make too much difference” to landowners with abandoned wells, says a director with the Alberta Surface Rights Federation. “The landowners are still going to be in a situation where they have to deal with contaminated land for maybe […] Read more
Court ruling alone won’t fix ‘orphan’ well crisis
There are now more than 3,000 abandoned wells in Alberta, and many more that are no longer active
Rural crime presentation draws a packed house at FarmTech
RCMP superintendent urges audience to let police do their job and to avoid confronting intruders
Reading Time: 4 minutes Rural crime is a topic that everyone wants to talk about. “This is not just an issue in Alberta, but across the country,” RCMP Supt. Peter Tewfik said at a crowded FarmTech session. Rural property crime actually went down by 10 per cent in the province in 2018, he said. This means 480 fewer home […] Read more
African swine fever would be a disaster
There is a ‘clear risk’ the swiftly spreading disease could come here, says leading swine health vet
Reading Time: 4 minutes There is a real risk that the African swine fever virus could enter Canada — and if it did, it would be catastrophic, says one of the country’s leading swine health experts. “If Canada got a single case in our country, our borders would close to all nations,” said Dr. Egan Brockhoff, a partner in […] Read more
Step-by-step stewardship a winner at Coulee Crest Farm
Reading Time: 4 minutes Randy Radau’s philosophy has been to make one or two environmental improvements at his place every year. This approach has proved fruitful for the rancher and grain grower, who runs a mixed farm with wife Sandra and son Luke, the recipients of the 2019 Alberta Beef Producers Environmental Stewardship Award. “We haven’t done anything really […] Read more
Seed royalties: We need to talk — some more
Speakers say more funding is needed for cereal breeding, but how to do that is up in the air
Reading Time: 5 minutes Something needs to be done to boost funding for cereal breeding, but kicking the contentious issue of seed royalties down the road seems to be the preferred option at the moment. That was the message coming out of a discussion on a pair of controversial royalty schemes at the recent Alberta Federation of Agriculture AGM. […] Read more
Hemp growers making a big difference half a world away
Reading Time: 3 minutes James Thiessen has been growing hemp for eight years, but this past year he did something different — gave part of his harvest away. The organic hemp grower from La Crete was approached by Hemp Production Services to join the Two Acre Challenge and was happy to participate. “I like it because Hemp Production Services […] Read more
Officials continue all-out effort to prevent spread of PED
Authorities say it’s ‘good news’ that the devastating disease hasn’t spread, but don’t know how it got here
Reading Time: 3 minutes Contain and pray it doesn’t spread. That sums up the approach officials are taking following the arrival of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) in the province. So far, tests for the PED virus at other farms, assembly yards, abattoirs, and truck washes have come back negative. However, officials also don’t know how the virus made its […] Read more
Building immunity to combat PED
There is no vaccine for the deadly virus, so controlled exposure is used to create immunity
Reading Time: < 1 minute Deliberately exposing a sow herd to the virus that causes porcine epidemic diarrhea may seem counterintuitive, but it’s the best option when a facility is infected. “The game plan is that you need to expose the sow population as quickly as possible, whenever the outbreak has occurred in the barn,” said Frank Marshall, owner of […] Read more
Antimicrobial resistance: No smoking gun, study finds
Study finds no link between antimicrobial use in livestock and antibiotic-resistant bacteria in humans
Reading Time: 4 minutes Researchers say they’ve tried very hard to find a link between antibiotic-resistant bacteria in cattle and humans — but despite all their efforts, were unable to do it. “We did a very comprehensive study where we studied enterococci in cattle, in waste water treatment plants, in catch basins and surrounding fields, and also collected isolates […] Read more
In the end, the conversation always turns to quality
Whether they make pasta or couscous, blend it or mill it straight, buyers associated Canada with quality wheat
Reading Time: 4 minutes Quality counts, whether in developing markets or established ones. That was a key takeaway for two Prairie farmers who participated in New Crops Missions prior to Christmas. “I was surprised in Ghana that two of the millers were using 100 per cent Canadian wheat,” said Kevin Bender, outgoing Alberta Wheat chair and a Cereals Canada […] Read more
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