Reading Time: 5 minutes Installing a pasture pipeline watering system was a pipe dream — literally — for Matt and Angela Kumlin, until they tapped the On-Farm Climate Action Fund. The Kumlins received $70,000 through OFCAF to build a water pipeline on their ranch. Now creeping up on the $100,000 mark, Angela said the project, meant to boost rotational […] Read more
Ranchers say federal funding key to watering improvements
Not everyone is happy with the way OFCAF does business, with some saying it doesn’t support cutting-edge producers
Province fast-tracks grazing approval for evacuated livestock
Lease holders can take animals now, report to authorities later
Reading Time: 3 minutes Grazing disposition holders who want to help fellow livestock producers affected by wildfires can use some recently relaxed rules. Alberta Forestry, Parks and Tourism has fast-tracked its processes to allow grazing lease, licence and permit holders to more quickly accept wildfire-displaced livestock on their land. The main condition is that key information be reported in […] Read more
Strike early when fighting kochia in canola
Reading Time: 3 minutes If there are patches where kochia is dominant and canola is unlikely to grow, mow or hand-weed before the plants set seed.
Clubroot ‘race profiling’ can help boost resistance in canola
Research team sets stage for next generation of resistance to pesky crop disease
Reading Time: 4 minutes Racial profiling is not a term most people would want to be associated with. But with clubroot it’s different; it means the ability to select a canola variety that not only resists clubroot in general, but specific “races” of the disease of canola and other brassica plants. When it happens, thank an AAFC research team […] Read more
Challenges and rewards greet Alberta craft maltsters
Value-added ventures beckon families back to the farm
Reading Time: 4 minutes At the end of a recent forum on craft malting, podcaster Don Tse asked his guests a surprising question: “Are you happy with your business decisions?” For three rural Albertans involved in the burgeoning industry, the consensus was “yes, but.” Yes, they’re happy with their choice, but anyone hoping to do the same had better […] Read more
Growing resistance drives new fungicide for pulses
Product a response to Group 11 resistance in lentils and field peas, says company
Reading Time: 2 minutes Growing resistance in some Western Canadian pulse crops has prompted the development of a new fungicide earmarked for a 2024 release. Reports of Group 11 resistance starting in 2019 caused BASF Canada to “pivot” its strategy around RevyPro, billed by the company as “Designed in Western Canada for Western Canadian growers.” “Group 11 resistance has […] Read more
A (very) small solution to big ag problems
Nanotech may be the future of precision crop protection, says Lethbridge scientist
Reading Time: 4 minutes In just a few years, crop spraying could become largely a thing of the past. Nanotechnology may take its place using its ability to target specific crop pests. Farmers hear a lot of such whizzy claims. But a Lethbridge researcher is so confident in nanotech-based crop protection that he’s working to ensure it doesn’t follow […] Read more
New tool helps producers measure nutrients leaving the soil
Nutrient removal calculator first of its kind for Western Canada
Reading Time: 3 minutes Farmers may do regular soil tests but do they measure the nutrients that leave via harvested crops? There’s a calculator for that. The Prairie Nutrient Removal Calculator helps farmers calculate or anticipate those numbers. Although not a new idea, it’s the only one designed specifically for Western Canadian farmers. “Whether you’re in Alberta, Saskatchewan or […] Read more
The Big Divide: Are carbon credits a good idea or waste of time?
No one’s against carbon sequestration but the best way to reward good stewardship is a tricky question
Reading Time: 4 minutes Should farmers be paid for the amount of carbon stored in their fields? Or for the practices that put the carbon there? That depends on who you ask. The head of the country’s largest bank recently backed the former, saying a “carbon soil market could be worth as much as $4 billion. But right now, […] Read more
Beef sector speaks out on costly processing rules
Producers, smaller processors bear the brunt of costs from BSE-era regulations
Reading Time: 4 minutes Alberta beef producers still feel the fallout from BSE through regulations intended for processors, though it is 20 years since the crisis began. Canadian beef processors pay millions more than their U.S. counterparts to process and dispose of specified risk material (SRM), first targeted during the BSE era, in cattle older than 30 months (OTM). […] Read more
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