Reading Time: 3 minutes There finally appears to be light at the end of the tunnel for rural Canadians fed up with slow, inconsistent, or unavailable Internet service. New Brunswick-based Xplornet Communications recently announced it will offer high-speed, 25-megabytes-per-second (mbps) Internet service to all Canadians by July 2017, a move that may finally destroy the urban-rural digital divide. “To […] Read more
Digital divide set to fall?
Company says all of rural Canada will have access to high speed by July 2017
Funding drop squeezes livestock agency
Livestock Identification Services is focusing on helping producers deal with new traceability requirements and its core duties
Reading Time: 3 minutes Alberta’s livestock inspection and identification organization says declining operating dollars, fewer staff, and losing its chief operating officer won’t stand in the way of meeting the needs of this province’s cattle producers. That confidence is particularly important right now, given the federal government’s anticipated regulatory amendments requiring national cattle movement reporting and the world market’s […] Read more
Rain, rain, come again
A series of late-July storms brought some relief to some parts of the province, but a lack of moisture is the big issue on many farms
Reading Time: 4 minutes Hot, sunny weather around the province through much of July made for ideal BBQ and beach weather — but bordered on too much of a good thing for some Alberta crops. With the exception of the fairly wet Lake Country, farmers around almost the entire province hoped for rain when the low-pressure system blew through […] Read more
FCC lending in Alberta sees dramatic increase
Reading Time: 3 minutes Back in 1959, the Canadian Government passed the Farm Credit Act to establish the Farm Credit Corporation (FCC) and gave it $8 million of capital in order to provide a single loan product at a set rate of five per cent interest. Today, FCC stands for Farm Credit Canada, and that’s not all that has […] Read more
AFSC racing to keep up with livestock and crop insurance claims
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s never a good idea to start counting either your pennies or your losses before the year is in the bag. That said, with harvesting already underway in many areas and livestock price insurance programs reaching fall settlement time, Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) is getting closer to final insurance claim tallies. “The big push […] Read more
Agricultural outlook good, but appetite for risk uncertain: FCC economist
Reading Time: 3 minutes From drought to hail to flooding, from BSE to swine flu, and from an elevated Canadian dollar to sky-high input costs, agriculture has taken its share of hits over the past decade. But those who can stay in the game have a bright future ahead, says J.P. Gervais, the chief economist at Farm Credit Canada […] Read more
Calgary lab will put ear tags to the ultimate test: Canadian winter
Reading Time: 3 minutes Electronic livestock identification tags are key to Canada’s traceability system, but tags used in Canada are notorious for problems, particularly in cold weather. A new high-tech tag-testing lab at SAIT Polytechnic is looking for a solution, thanks to a half-million-dollar grant from the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency (ALMA). “Right now, the problem is that […] Read more
A game of tag — which RFID system is better?
Reading Time: 3 minutes The race is on to create an approved and industry-implementable version of ultra-high frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) livestock ear tags. Though there could be big money in it for the winner, design challenges and political roadblocks stand in the way. Compared to older technology, UHF is 2,000 times faster and easier to read, […] Read more
Cattle feeders take most advantage of AFSC price insurance program
Reading Time: 3 minutes Feeders have been ready participants of Alberta Financial Services Corporation’s (AFSC) livestock price insurance program, with more than two-thirds of the 500 to 600 eligible feedlots signed up so far. Uptake has been slower on the calf program that started a year and a half ago and the hog program launched a year ago, says […] Read more
GF2 framework receives mixed reviews from Alberta groups
Federal cuts Though some is going to research, more is leaving agriculture for debt recuction
Reading Time: 4 minutes The new Growing Forward 2 framework, announced Sept. 14, is being met with widely differing opinions from Alberta agricultural producer groups. “It’s a big hit for agriculture. We knew there would be some trimming, but we didn’t expect this large a cut,” said Lynn Jacobson, president of Wild Rose Agricultural Producers. “There are certainly some […] Read moreCyber-Savvy Farmer
