Reading Time: 4 minutes The amount of information and education available to farmers is not unlike Alberta landscapes — mountains of video, valleys of print and plains of online content that stretch to the horizon. It can be overwhelming but podcasts provide a convenient window into local and global issues that matter to prairie farmers. Cows on the Planet […] Read more
There’s something for everyone on Alberta’s menu of agriculture podcasts
On-farm research sprouts fresh ideas for producers
Crop commissions are helping farmers get solid answers to questions they have on their farms
Reading Time: 3 minutes Do on-farm trials make a difference when applying research to real life? Several of the province’s crop commissions think so. Even when research results seem clear cut, things can get complicated when farmers try to apply them on the farm, says Jeremy Boychyn, agronomy research extension specialist with Alberta Wheat and Alberta Barley. Boychyn points […] Read more
Research with a twist: Farmers in the driver’s seat in Living Lab
Participating producers will be full partners in new program run by ABP
Reading Time: 4 minutes A new climate change initiative in Alberta will put producers in the driver’s seat so they can test-drive best management practices and see what works. The concept is called Living Labs, a three-year-old program that is already showing results in other provinces and is being implemented nationally. The version being rolled out here is called […] Read more
The era of uniform application is ending as data drives change
The tech behind precision application isn’t the finished article yet, but it’s getting close
Reading Time: 3 minutes The days of applying fertilizer and other inputs in a blanket fashion across entire fields are coming to an end. With the advent of GPS integrated data loggers and yield maps, farmers no longer need to guess when it comes to applying expensive inputs, said precision agriculture expert Alex Melnitchouck. “Yield is an integrated result […] Read more
Crystal balls are even more wonky this year
The uncertainty factor is as high as fertilizer prices right now
Reading Time: 4 minutes Farmers face tough choices about purchasing fertilizer for next year. Buy now? Or roll the dice and hope prices fall? There are reports of price dips in some countries because farmers are balking at the high cost. But the fundamentals aren’t good, said one American fertilizer analyst. “I think prices are going to see continued […] Read more
Alberta gardener grows largest pumpkin in Canadian history
“You have to do 60 to 70 pounds a day for a fairly good length of time…”
Reading Time: 4 minutes There’s a lot more to growing a 2,537-pound pumpkin than you might think. Like most other forms of farming, it’s just not a case of planting a seed, walking away and hoping for a good outcome. “I could talk about pumpkins for just about as long as there is time,” said Don Crews of Lloydminster, […] Read more
Farmfair ramping up with full show and new events
The 48-year-old show isn’t just about beef cattle – it’s about fun and educating the public
Reading Time: 3 minutes After one pandemic cancellation and a scaled-down version last year, Farmfair International is back up to speed and has new events on tap, says the show’s director. “This year, after what we’ve come through with COVID, and Farmfair having taken a hiatus, (it) has provided us with an opportunity to add some new components to […] Read more
Tough calls: canola marketing is extra complex in an unstable world
Pull the trigger or hold and hope? That perennial question is even more complicated this year
Reading Time: 3 minutes With the most expensive crop ever planted mostly in the bin and the world becoming more unstable by the day, farmers face complex choices for canola marketing. Should they sell what hasn’t been contracted to take advantage of prices hovering around $19 per bushel in early October? Or should they hold and wait for another […] Read more
Railways in the spotlight as shipping season begins
CN and CP say they’ll get the job done but shippers and farmers are concerned
Reading Time: 4 minutes Another chapter in the great Canadian rail transport soap opera may be unfolding. The tempestuous couple — railroads and grain farmers — is on the cusp of another argument over harvest shipping. And there’s no alternative for producers. They’re locked into the relationship. Will CN Rail and CP Rail, which struggled to move a 49-million […] Read more
Calf prices are strong, but the road to recovery will be a long one for many
Demand up, supply down, but many producers still ‘digging their way out of last year’
Reading Time: 3 minutes Strong domestic and international demand coupled with dwindling supply is raising North American calf prices but cashed-strapped farmers are still struggling. At the end of September, calf prices were about $272 per hundredweight, up 21 per cent from a year ago, said Brenna Grant, executive director of Canfax. [RELATED] A NEW DAWN: Cattle producers get […] Read more
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