Reading Time: 5 minutes Beleaguered ranchers with quarantined herds are getting some relief as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has approved a beef industry plan to allow calves to be sent to feedlots. “We’re working with the CFIA on the conditions and requirements,” said Rich Smith, executive director of Alberta Beef Producers. “Obviously, it would be hard to get […] Read more
Compensation promised for ranches under TB quarantine
Ottawa promises financial help while Alberta Beef Producers trying to arrange for feedlots to take in calves
Ag apprenticeship program opening doors for high school students
Two-thirds Alberta’s Green Certificate program grads find work and one-quarter go on to an agricultural post-secondary program
Reading Time: 3 minutes Two-thirds of high school students who complete Alberta’s Green Certificate program end up working in the agriculture industry. In a survey of recent program graduates, the province found that 67 per cent of students were successful at finding employment in agriculture after finishing the Green Certificate program and 63 per cent are still employed in […] Read more
Alberta producers aren’t sold on sustainability certification programs
Only 30 per cent of farmers believe sustainability certification will be part of doing business in the next five years
Reading Time: 4 minutes Alberta producers don’t know much about sustainability certification programs — but they don’t think it matters much anyway. Those were the key findings of a survey of 400 Alberta producers who were asked about sustainability practices on their farms. While producers are making headway on adopting sustainable production practices, they’re not yet sold on the […] Read more
Looking for foreign workers? Express Entry program has 60,000 of them
The website has profiles of more than 60,000 foreign workers who qualify for permanent residency
Reading Time: 3 minutes In this day and age, finding skilled foreign workers is a little like Internet dating. “Jobbank.gc.ca is the best way to find foreign workers,” said Dean Jorgenson, employer liaison officer with Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada. “You’re given an opportunity to essentially fish from the Express Entry pool, as well as other job seekers who […] Read more
Quarantine comes with a ‘devastating’ cost
There are roughly 10,000 cattle under quarantine, and every animal can cost as much as $3 a day in feed and yardage
Reading Time: 5 minutes Ranches under quarantine in southeastern Alberta could be collectively losing $15,000 to $30,000 per day feeding and caring for the roughly 10,000 cattle they can neither move nor sell. And much of that money may never be recovered, which is prompting calls for a new approach to compensating producers whose herds are being investigated for […] Read more
When it comes to bovine TB, a closed herd is a safer herd
Bovine tuberculosis usually isn’t discovered until an animal reaches the packing plant
Reading Time: 2 minutes Initial symptoms for bovine tuberculosis can be “quite vague” and hard to spot. “The general symptoms for an animal infected are depression, lethargy, and chronic weight loss,” said Dr. Cody Creelman, who works at Veterinary Agri-Health Services in Airdrie. “You may or may not see a fever, and as it progresses and gets quite severe, […] Read more
When it comes to healthy soil, you want to lump it
Soil aggregation is critical — in several different ways — to growing healthy crops
Reading Time: 4 minutes Think water is your biggest limiting factor when growing a crop? Think again. “Soil aggregation is the most important constraint that we have,” said Yamily Zavala, crop and soil health management specialist at Chinook Applied Research Association. “In order for a soil to function properly, we have to have all the soil processes — physical, […] Read more
Battle lines drawn on allowing farm workers to unionize
There’s agreement on issues such as overtime and exempting families from the labour code, but prospect of unionization is a flashpoint
Reading Time: 6 minutes Producers remain at odds with the NDP government’s plan to include the right to unionize — and to go on strike — as part of its workplace safety legislation for farms and ranches. “In some areas, we did see some movement and we did get to resolutions,” said Gord Winkel, interim executive director of the […] Read more
Farm groups plan to lead the way on workplace safety
With Bill 6 consultations drawing to a close, AgCoalition aims to ‘show the world’ how to make farms safer
Reading Time: 2 minutes Now that the province’s Bill 6 consultation process is nearing an end, what’s next for the unprecedented coalition of Alberta farm groups? “The AgCoalition was initially set up to advance a safety culture, and yet it got embroiled in a consultation process that it didn’t really have a lot of time or purchase for,” said […] Read more
National environmental farm plan in the works
A summit next month will bring together farm groups and governments from across the country
Reading Time: 3 minutes Having a national environmental farm plan could make it easier for producers to market their commodities overseas. “We recognize that farmers have international buyers from around the world that are sourcing Canadian products from more than one jurisdiction,” said Erin Gowriluk, government relations and policy manager at Alberta Wheat. “If we can position ourselves here […] Read more
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