Reading Time: < 1 minute AAC Connect and CDC Bow have made the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre’s short list of recommended varieties for the coming year. The duo joins longtime favourites CDC Copeland, AAC Synergy, and AC Metcalfe on the short list. Those three accounted for 88 per cent of insured Alberta barley acres in 2019 — Copeland was […] Read more
Malt barley recommendations for 2020
Bad doesn’t begin to describe situation of unharvested fields
Reading Time: < 1 minute “Cleaning up the acres left out in the spring will be no small task.” So reads the provincial Ag Ministry’s final crop report of 2019. It estimates 10.4 per cent of crops are still in the field — on par with the dismal 2016 season (when 10.3 per cent was unharvested). But that number doesn’t […] Read more
Certificate needed to avoid carbon tax on fuel
Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta Beef Producers is urging farmers to fill out a fuel charge exemption form before Jan. 1, when the federal carbon tax kicks in for the province. The carbon tax (officially called the Federal Fuel Charge) isn’t levied on gasoline and light fuel oil for farm machinery “for the purpose of farming or travelling from […] Read more
Ag-plastic recycling now in business
Reading Time: < 1 minute A pilot program for recycling twine and grain bags is now up and running. The ‘Alberta Ag-Plastic. Recycle It!’ program, funded by the province and administered by Alberta Beef Producers has 20 drop-off sites. Collections started in October but producers should check with the site in their area to confirm it is up and running […] Read more
Finance and succession help for younger farmers
Reading Time: < 1 minute Farm Credit Canada is putting on a series of events for younger farmers so they can learn how “to take control of their business journey.” Eight “young farmer summits” for producers under the age of 40 are being held across the country, including two in Alberta. “The future of Canadian agriculture depends on attracting the […] Read more
AFSC offers help for farmer clients
Reading Time: < 1 minute Agriculture Financial Services Corporation says there are “a number of options available to help clients with cash flow challenges” because of the poor growing season and dismal harvest. “This year, eligible clients can take advantage of a Post-Harvest Advance or a Preliminary Payment, and receive a portion of their estimated claim as an early payment, […] Read more
Make rail transport an essential service, say crop commissions
Wheat and barley commissions say crop sector can’t afford to have strikes ‘every few years’
Reading Time: 3 minutes The longest rail strike in a decade is over, but the need for a new way to deal with rail disruptions is as pressing as ever, say Alberta Wheat and Alberta Barley. “The threat of strikes affecting grain movement is a recurring theme every few years and we need a long-term solution to ensure Canada […] Read more
Modern farming produces a bumper crop of worries
More than 1,300 farmers were asked about their top concerns — and it’s a long list
Reading Time: 2 minutes What’s your biggest worry? Weather? Yield? Disease or pests? It’s actually selling what you produce, according to a recent Farm Credit Canada survey. The survey asked 1,363 producers about their major concerns and 67 per cent had marketing on their worry list — topping both production (60 per cent) and financial (53 per cent) risks. […] Read more
Now’s your time to catch up on cattle feeding tips
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Cows and Chaos webinar series has wrapped up, but the entire series is available online. Although the series covered timely topics for producers dealing with feed issues, its timing (it started airing in the summer and concluded earlier this month) coincided with harvest and the fall calf run. Each episode, put on by Alberta […] Read more
Keep your Premises Identification account up to date
Premises ID has proved its worth since being created 11 years ago
Reading Time: < 1 minute The province is urging smaller operations with livestock (such as hobby farms and acreages) to register for the Premises Identification (PID) System and for all operations to keep their account information current. Since it was started 11 years ago, more than 45,500 premises have been registered with the system, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry said in […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
