Reading Time: 4 minutes The year Mark Gibeau started growing heritage grains, a book called The 100-Mile Diet had just come out. Suddenly it seemed everyone was using terms such as ‘local food’ and ‘locavore.’ It was good timing on Gibeau’s part, but would time be his friend? Would local food be one of those ‘here today gone tomorrow’ […] Read more
Local food is putting down deep roots
One in 20 Alberta farms are selling directly to their customers, and there’s room for plenty more
Lacombe distillery gets by with a little help from its friends
Old Prairie Sentinel wouldn’t survive without its locally grown ingredients, says owner
Reading Time: 2 minutes It takes a village to distil high-quality spirits. Just ask Rob Gugin. “We rely a lot on our neighbours,” said the owner of Old Prairie Sentinel Distillery in Lacombe. “This area of the world is famous for its malt barley, and our neighbours in Alix at the Rahr Malting plant make some of the best […] Read more
A 50/50 chance your kochia is glyphosate resistant
Triple-resistant kochia has also been found in Alberta and Saskatchewan
Reading Time: 3 minutes There’s an easy way to tell if you have glyphosate-resistant kochia in your field — flip a coin. “Half the fields that have kochia in them now have resistant populations,” said federal research scientist Charles Geddes. Five years ago, only five per cent of kochia populations in Alberta fields were resistant to glyphosate (the active […] Read more
Despite some stresses, ‘cautious’ optimism for cow-calf sector
Strong demand and prices are good news, but feed costs and tariffs are troubling
Reading Time: 3 minutes Alberta cattle producers have a few reasons to be optimistic as they head into the fall. “We’re still on the profitable side for the cow-calf guy,” said Charlie Christie, chair of Alberta Beef Producers. “I’m hearing some optimism on the market side. Whether that will translate into good calf prices in the fall remains to […] Read more
Students will find tomorrow’s technology today at ‘smart farm’
Operation will use tech ranging from drones and data analytics to multispectral imaging and AI
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s not often you find yourself in the middle of a field with full Wi-Fi bars on your phone. But what else would you expect from a ‘smart farm?’ “This is the classroom coming alive,” said Jason Bradley, director of smart ag for Olds College. “The smart farm is a place where students can get […] Read more
Wetland protection a no-brainer for cattle producer
Reading Time: 3 minutes Pearl Gregor was on the phone the instant she read about ALUS Canada in her county newspaper. “When I heard about ALUS, it was automatic — I had to do it,” said the New Sarepta-area cattle farmer. “We’ve lost so much of the Alberta wetlands. As farmers, we need water, so we need ALUS.” ALUS […] Read more
Agritourism sustains central Alberta sheep farm
Reading Time: 3 minutes Susan de Rosemond had three strikes against her when she decided to become a sheep farmer in the late 1970s. First, she was an immigrant. Second, she was a woman. And the killing blow? She wanted to be a sheep farmer in beef country. “When I went to apply for my mortgage, the bank managers […] Read more
Does deep banding work? New research aims to find out
The practice could make immobile nutrients more available for three major crops
Reading Time: 3 minutes The jury is still out on whether deep banding fertilizer is worth the time and money — but researchers across Alberta are hoping to settle the debate once and for all. “I don’t think there’s any proof yet that deep banding works,” said Ken Coles, general manager of Farming Smarter. “We want to have some […] Read more
Permaculture operation provides food for thought
Couple raised on conventional farms took a very different path when they started their livestock operation
Reading Time: 4 minutes Nancy and Chad Hewlett wanted to do things a little differently when they decided to start farming four years ago. So they moved away from the conventional farming of their childhoods and took a more holistic approach instead. “Shifting to permaculture was a huge learning curve. Some days, it feels like I’m starting all over […] Read more
Wake up and smell the micro-roasted coffee
Alberta village is on the cutting edge of the ‘third wave’ coffee movement thanks to Profound Coffee
Reading Time: 4 minutes Teri Heck is on a mission to rid the world of bad coffee. “I grew up on the farm where we had terrible water and even worse coffee,” said the owner of Profound Coffee, a micro-roaster in Cremona. “Life is just too short to drink bad coffee.” Heck was always a double-double girl in the […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
