Reading Time: 2 minutes It was a close call, but one of the country’s longest-running Canadian Foodgrains Bank growing projects has successfully seeded its 24th crop. “We did not secure this 70 acres until May 6, which is very late,” Doug Maas, a member of the Central Alberta Growing Project committee, said in an email. “Our committee was looking […] Read more
Long-running growing project finds land at last moment
Could a wheat sample test put money in your pocket?
Buyers are increasingly using falling number to determine wheat’s value — but farmers don’t get paid for that
Reading Time: 4 minutes Alberta Wheat is hailing a move by the Canadian Grain Commission to consider making tests for falling number and deoxynivalenol official grain-grading factors. “We want the grain commission to make a whole bunch of changes,” said chair Gary Stanford. “We think the grain should be sold by falling numbers… Everybody wants to sell at Grade […] 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There are now more than 3,000 abandoned wells in Alberta, and many more that are no longer active
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
No ordinary herbicide — glyphosate keeps making headlines
The world’s most widely used herbicide will continue to be one of agriculture’s biggest newsmakers
Reading Time: 4 minutes Two things happened to glyphosate over the past 15 years — it got a lot more popular and a lot more unpopular at the same time. There’s no question that most farmers love it. Although the most recent estimates are a few years old, farm use of glyphosate soared in this century. A major European […] Read more
Then and now, the times they keep on changing
Reading Time: < 1 minute While digging around in the Stockmen’s Memorial Foundation Library and Archives in Cochrane last summer, reporter Jennifer Blair came across something she described as “a little bit of history,” namely Volume 01, Number 01 of this newspaper, bearing the date January 2004. Back then it was called The Alberta Express — the word Farmer wouldn’t […] Read more
Take me out to the wide-open prairie (and a ball game, too)
Reading Time: 4 minutes Quick — what tops a trip to Niagara Falls or taking in a Blue Jays game on a nice summer day? Full points if you answered, ‘Seeing how the Prairies was laid out in one-mile square blocks.’ That was, indeed, one of the highlights for nine members of Ontario’s Hastings County 4-H Exchange Club when […] Read more
The situation is grim for many ranchers, ABP warns province
Provincial officials will need to quickly roll out assistance programs if drought continues, says Charlie Christie
Reading Time: 2 minutes Alberta’s main cattle group is warning the provincial government to stand ready as a severe feed shortage could soon lead to a major culling of herds. Many ranchers depleted their hay stocks after a cold spring delayed pasture growth, and have seen only meagre production this summer in the face of dry, hot conditions, said […] Read more
Alberta organic industry hits new heights
There’s money to be made as organic becomes more mainstream and the industry matures
Reading Time: 3 minutes A surge in the number of organic crop producers in Alberta has boosted organic production on the Prairies to a level not seen since the 2008 financial crisis. That’s a key highlight of a new report from the Prairie Organic Grain Initiative, an alliance of Organic Alberta and its counterparts in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. “The […] Read more
Farmers wonder what’s next from mercurial president
The threat of a trade war has been pushed off the front pages, but continues to roil the farm sector
Reading Time: < 1 minute The phrase ‘that’s so last week’ is supposed to be ironic, but it’s an apt description for the ongoing whirlwind of trade measures coming out of the Oval Office. Since ordering tariffs of 25 per cent on US$50 billion worth of Chinese goods in early April, U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered more tariffs on […] Read more
Ag societies gearing up for the summer — and beyond
Reading Time: 2 minutes Summer may seem like a long way off but across the province, tens of thousands of volunteers are gearing up for the annual frenzy of festivals and summer events. “All indications from our members are that they’re prepared, ready to go, and do what they normally do for their communities in 2018,” said Tim Carson, […] Read more
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