Reading Time: 4 minutes Experts worry wild pigs on the Prairies and domestic hogs are on a collision course — and the fallout could be enormous if PED ever infects the wild population. “We know globally from a lot of research and monitoring that wild pigs can be very serious reservoirs of disease and hold the disease,” said Ryan […] Read more
Wild pigs could be superspreaders of disease, expert warns
Wild pigs are attracted to hog farms and can indirectly spread diseases such as porcine epidemic diarrhea
Strike averted at Cargill’s High River beef plant
Deal hikes wages by 21 per cent and offers large bonuses
Reading Time: < 1 minute Workers at Cargill’s packing plant in High River have overwhelmingly voted for a contract that will hike wages by 21 per cent and provide improved health benefits. “The contract is the best of its kind and presented unprecedented gains in this time of economic and political uncertainty,” United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 401 […] Read more
Strike averted at Cargill’s High River beef plant
Deal that hikes wages by 21 per cent and offers large bonuses receives majority backing
Workers at Cargill’s beef packing plant in southern Alberta have voted in favour of a contract that will hike wages by 21 per cent and provide improved health benefits. “The contract is the best of its kind and presented unprecedented gains in this time of economic and political uncertainty,” United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) […] Read more
A tale of two trade agreements
The TPP deal soars, the EU deal stalls
Asian and Pacific nations are snapping up our beef while EU roadblocks persist
Reading Time: 5 minutes When it comes to Canada’s two big foreign trade deals, the difference for beef producers is night and day — one is putting money in their pockets and the other has mostly been an exercise in frustration. In just the first two years of the three-year-old Trans-Pacific trade deal, member nations upped their buys of […] Read more
The province’s ‘historic’ irrigation expansion has got even bigger
Two new districts join in and now nearly a quarter of a million more acres will be irrigated
Reading Time: 2 minutes It was a low-key announcement with some very sizable numbers. A historic expansion of Alberta’s irrigation network is getting bigger — another 30,000 acres are being added at a cost of $118 million. The expansion was announced earlier this month by Premier Jason Kenney without the fanfare of the original announcement a year ago, which […] Read more
Cattle producers may be putting the pedal to the metal with new ear tags
Lost ear tags are a perennial complaint but now a metal version made in the U.K. is available
Reading Time: 2 minutes Lost ear tags are a perennial source of frustration for cattle producers but the agency that approves and sells tags is now selling one it says is more durable. “Yes, you’ve heard right. Metal. RFID. Approved,” Canadian Cattle Identification Agency tweeted last month when announcing it would be selling “the first of its kind” tag. […] Read more
So just where do old jugs, bale wrap and twine end up?
Some become drainage tile and fence posts but the markets for recycled plastic vary widely
Reading Time: 3 minutes Recyclers really like your old pesticide and fertilizer jugs. But your grain bags, not so much. And demand for twine, silage bags, and bale wrap isn’t hot at all. That’s the upshot of a new report from Cleanfarms, the national non-profit created to find ways to deal with ag plastic waste and keep it out […] Read more
We’ve planted some digital seeds in the fields of journalism
Reading Time: 3 minutes When farmers plant a seed, it becomes many. It is the purest form of wealth creation. It also takes many to cover even a fraction of the stories that could be done on seeds, and how humans develop, improve, preserve, and understand them. Over the past few months, more than two dozen journalists from across […] Read more
Program measures pasture progress by the numbers
Rather than focus on a theory, Ecological Outcome Verification relies on tracking measurable parameters
Reading Time: 3 minutes Years of researching how to get the most out of the pastures on his southern Ontario beef farm left Cory Van Groningen frustrated. “One book says only take the top sward and leave the rest to regrow; another book says use high-intensity grazing and trample it down; another book says take a third of the […] Read more
Walmart commits to sustainable beef in a ‘milestone moment’
Retail giant will buy 1.5 million pounds in the coming year and more in the years that follow
Reading Time: 3 minutes The effort to build production of certified sustainable beef in Canada is getting a major boost from Walmart. The retailing giant says its Canadian division will become a major buyer of beef certified by the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB). “This is the largest public commitment made by a single retailer to date: 1.5 […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
