The surge in Black Sea wheat is a huge — and underappreciated — threat, says Alberta producer Greg Porozni (left), seen here talking with Essa Al Ghurair, owner of the United Arab Emirates’ largest flour mill and canola crush plant, during a trade mission earlier this winter.

A tsunami of Black Sea wheat is flooding global markets

The Black Sea troika of wheat producers used to be minnows — now they’re giants and still growing

Reading Time: 3 minutes The Russians aren’t coming, they’ve already arrived. And they’ve been joined by the Kazakhs and Ukrainians. The surge of wheat exports from Black Sea producers into global grain markets isn’t new, but most Prairie farmers may not appreciate just how strong they’ve become. “Russia continues to dominate the global wheat export trade,” market analyst Marlene […] Read more

FarmTech attendees gave Stephen Harper a rousing welcome and received in return a blueprint for success in an increasingly protectionist world.

Adapt to the new world order, says Stephen Harper

Globalization foes are 
just getting started, but free traders can thrive if they adapt

Reading Time: 4 minutes He was enthusiastically welcomed as the prime minister who scrapped the wheat board, earning a standing ovation before the first word of his keynote address. But Stephen Harper had his eyes on an even bigger farm issue when he spoke to an enthusiastic crowd of nearly all of FarmTech’s 2,000 attendees. In a sweeping political […] Read more


Two agriculture and food initiatives are contenders for Ottawa’s billion-dollar plan to kick-start the nation’s new economy — but will it pick Big Data or plant-based proteins?

Superclusters: Creating a silicon valley for agriculture and food

Two proposals from Western Canada are vying for backing in Ottawa’s 
bid to put Canada at the front of the new economy

Reading Time: 6 minutes So what would you rather have — new lucrative ‘plant protein’ markets or a way to turn Big Data into bigger profits? Those are the goals of the two agriculture and agri-food proposals vying for a slice of $950 million of federal cash that Ottawa will spend on ‘superclusters’ — business-led collaborations that aim to […] Read more



Pulses are being used as ingredients in a growing list of products — from pasta to pet foods — and that has experts predicting acreage of peas, lentils, and other pulses will rise sharply over the longer term.

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

The Newell Foodgrains Growing Project is one of three dozen in Alberta this year — although this group should be counted three times. It raised $2,500 in donations this spring when a horse-drawn seeder was used to plant four acres near Rosemary. Another 100 acres of barley were conventionally planted near Gem. In late August, 15 farmers brought their combines to harvest the 103-bushel-an-acre crop, which was sold for a very handsome $7.38 per bushel (raising nearly $76,000). Then the group raised more than $43,000 (and counting) at a harvest supper at the end of October.

Stories that touch the heart — and generate a big response

Reading Time: 3 minutes The world has got a little smaller for some Alberta farmers. And that’s a good thing. Alberta farm communities continue to be huge supporters of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank — raising more than $2.6 million last year. One of the foundations of that support has been “food study tours,” where farmers (who pay their travel […] Read more


Baljit Singh, dean of University of Calgary Veterinary Medicine, gave Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt (l) a tour of his school last month after Schmidt surprised the province’s vet community with his decision to pull funding from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine.

Veterinarian school funding decision creates controversy

School’s dean says it makes sense to consolidate in Calgary but association says it’s capping training in the midst of a 
vet shortage

Reading Time: 3 minutes The dean of the province’s vet school is defending the NDP government’s decision to consolidate veterinarian education in Alberta — but the association representing the profession says it’s short sighted. The province announced last month it will be pulling its $8 million in funding from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon to expand […] Read more

As usual, all eyes are on U.S. President Donald Trump, who calls NAFTA the “worst trade deal ever made.” That view has been translated into explosive demands by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer (centre) and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross (far right).

Don’t write NAFTA’s obituary just yet

‘Absurd’ demands have heightened fears that President Trump aims to kill the trade pact, but experts say that’s premature

Reading Time: 4 minutes Stay calm and keep negotiating’ seems to be the mantra of Canadian farm groups even as a growing number of experts warn NAFTA may be doomed. U.S. negotiators dropped a series of bombshells in the fourth round of talks on renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement — demands that Canada and Mexico had said […] Read more



GrainsConnect Canada’s new elevator in Huxley will be similar to this one under construction in Maymont, Sask.

Global grain companies like what they see in central Alberta

GrainsConnect Canada is building a new $30-million elevator at Huxley 
while Agrocorp is expanding its Innisfail operation

Reading Time: 2 minutes The investment in Alberta grains sector continues. GrainsConnect Canada has announced its second elevator for the province while Agrocorp Processing is moving ahead with a $6.5-million expansion of its local grain- and pulse-handling facility. “What we are actually doing is building a new plant beside the old one,” said Colin Topham, Agrocorp’s managing director, adding […] Read more