Reading Time: 3 minutes A tax on meat was the story d’jour at the start of the new year, and although the prospects of such a tax seem slim, the livestock industry risks losing market share to plant-based products, says an expert. The call for a tax came from Jeremy Coller, founder of one of the world’s largest private […] Read more
Meat tax unlikely but alternatives gaining ground
Consumers are being offered more plant-based proteins and adding more of them to their diets, says expert
There’s a new look to Alberta Beef’s 2018 board of directors
There are five women, including the vice-chair and finance chair, on this year’s board and a quarter of the directors are under age 40
Reading Time: 3 minutes One look at a photo of the new board of Alberta Beef Producers tells you something very different is happening at the province’s largest livestock organization. Five of the 17 directors on the 2018 board are women and a quarter are under age 40. Both are welcomed by new ABP chair Charlie Christie, a cow-calf […] Read more
The good, the dry and the troubling
Year in Review: Mother Nature threw a curveball and so did governments, while the beef sector reached some major milestones
Reading Time: 9 minutes In one sense, the story of 2017 was all about what happened on your farm, mostly about how much rain you got and when — or if — it came. But it was also a year when things that happened in meeting rooms you’ve never visited had a big impact on your operation. If those […] Read more
Crop Insurance: Hail claims dipped sharply but unharvested acres soared
The number of unseeded acres rose eightfold but the provincial crop insurer paid out less than half the usual amount of hail claims
Reading Time: 2 minutes Dry conditions had one benefit this year — they helped contribute to a big drop in hail damage. “It was very dry in the south, with less activity in relation to hail. The central-south areas were more active this year,” said Daniel Graham, manager of business risk products with the Agricultural Financial Services Corporation (AFSC). […] Read more
Listen to your crops — the plants are talking to each other
They’re also ‘foraging’ for nutrients, deciding where to put their roots, and calling for help when under attack
Reading Time: 3 minutes You might think it’s crazy — but plants talk to each other and act in ways that are similar to animals and humans. “Step away from the idea of plants as factories and start to think of plants as individuals,” biological sciences professor JC Cahill told attendees at the Western Canadian Soil Health and Grazing […] Read more
What are the alternatives if peas don’t pencil out for your farm?
A canola-wheat rotation fosters weed and resistance problems, but a major drop in pea acreage will leave a big hole in cropping plans
Reading Time: 3 minutes Experts are stumped on what to grow this spring as a third mainstay crop. Peas have increasingly been the choice of many looking to avoid a canola-wheat rotation — but India’s trade barriers along with disease issues have left many of those producers scrambling to find an alternative. “I do believe pea acres will be […] Read more
World’s first verified sustainable beef plan is ready to roll
It’s taken two years of work and looks much like McDonald’s pilot, but its creators say it’s a historic step forward
Reading Time: 4 minutes After two years of consultations and review, the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef has rolled out the official list of procedures and standards for producing beef in a humane, environmentally friendly way. And while the Certified Sustainable Beef Framework looks a lot like the one developed for McDonald’s 2014 pilot project, its launch is historic, […] Read more
Give peas a chance — the future looks bright
Acreage may plummet in the coming year, but the new processing plants are laying the foundation for a surge in production
Reading Time: 5 minutes Here’s some counterintuitive advice: Think about growing peas in 2018. That’s a suggestion from Alan Hall, who has kept a close watch on the pulse sector in his role as ‘new initiatives and project hunter’ with the Alberta Crop Industry Development Fund. As such, Hall is well aware of the recent plunge in pea prices, […] Read more
It’s tiny now, but fledgling hops sector is taking flight
Reading Time: 3 minutes There’s no doubt that the craft brewing industry in Alberta is hot — and that’s sparking a mini-boom in growing hops. “We know of 12 producers in Alberta, but that does not account for farmers who haven’t engaged with us,” said Wade Bendfeld, president of the Alberta Hop Producers Association, which was formed in March […] Read more
Who’s your daddy?
A study that used DNA testing to determine the siring success of individual bulls produced some surprises
Reading Time: 3 minutes DNA testing can help you know which bulls are siring calves and make better management decisions. “There was a lot more variation in what bulls were actually doing and which bulls were siring calves than we thought going into this,” Stacey Domolewski said during a recent Beef Cattle Research Council webinar. As part of a […] Read more