He spent his childhood on the family farm in the city of Calgary. No, that’s not a typo. Woolliams’ family homesteaded in 1890 as dairy farmers on what is now a suburban swath of northwest Calgary.

Over the years, the family sold chunks of land to builders. Today, he and his family continue to farm immediately north of the city in Rocky View County.

Depending which way he looks, he has as good a view of the Cow Town as anyone. By the time he retires, he might look at the city no matter which direction he faces.

Woolliams, his wife Kortney and their two kids, daughter Paige and son Trace, were honoured with Rocky View County’s Master Farm Family award in early August. The award is annually handed out to the family deemed to best demonstrate excellence in community service and at their farm, along with management techniques and sustainability practices.

When he received the call, he was floored.

“That was just the coolest thing,” says Woolliams, 45. “What an honour to be recognized within a whole county.”

The accolade is not entirely new to him, however. When he was 14, his parents, Roy and Diana, received the same award. Even at a young age, it motivated the young boy to follow in their footsteps.

“I always wanted to win it, that was one of my goals after they won it. I didn’t honestly think I’d ever be able to do it. This award is a tribute to them and the generation of Woolliams who came before us.”

After the family was formally honoured, his son Trace said he intends to win the same prize one day in the future.

Embrace change

Years ago, Woolliams was primarily in the cattle business. When BSE hit, the 24-year-old suddenly came to a crossroads.

“As a young farmer, that was devastating. I took a step back and I knew my heart wasn’t into the livestock side. I was into the grain, so that was my opportunity to pivot.”

In short order, he and his parents, who managed separate farms, exited the cattle business with a series of sell-offs.

Today, he farms 9,000 acres and he’ll be the first to say that farming is substantially different than yesteryear, which works well for him as a person who embraces change.

Woolliams’ focus these days is dealing with challenges, most of which involve the business of farming, not the work itself. While most farmers compete with other farmers on land that comes up for sale, Woolliams has also bid against real estate developers eager to turn farmland into housing.

For the last few years, he has been commonly found without dirt under his nails, sitting in his office looking at monitors. The only exceptions are seeding and harvest times. Otherwise, he’s glued to his chair, running the farm and offshoot businesses.

A “farm team” used to be a reference to the field team. At Woolliams Farms, the farm team includes farmhands and extends to his banker, accountant, lawyer, grain marketing advisor/futures account advisor and more.

“If you don’t have those types of people, you’re going to get lost real fast,” he says. “The farm’s a business. The days are gone of this being just a family farm and that’s the way it is. You’re running a multi-million-dollar business.

“We’re very high tech. I can look on my phone and see what’s happening. Everything’s getting recorded in live time and those are decision-making tools. That is a major way for me to keep my finger on the pulse and also helps me determine efficiencies on equipment or what I can do if I’m buying a new piece of equipment.”

Technology helps him market commodities throughout the year and know the break even points on a daily basis.

Woolliams prides himself on being at technology’s bleeding edge, which started with his dad Roy, one of Alberta’s first farmers to use yield maps and variable rate fertilizer. Those innovations intrigued Woolliams at a young age and he never let go of that passion.

Today, he uses both of those tools, but also utilizes drones for scouting, soil sampling and prescription field maps to be as efficient and precise as possible with field operations.

In 2019, Woolliams created Crop Boss, an app for inventory management, field activity and cost-ratio analysis and ensured the integration into farm management software. In 2020, he sold his app to tech company Provision, which he described as a “very honouring” professional experience.

Giving back

As part of the Woolliams family winning the award, their extra-curriculars were put under the microscope. No surprise, the family is active in the community.

From the time he was a boy, Woolliams was involved in 4-H, and the presenter of the award, Rocky View County councillor Greg Boehlke, noted he watched Woolliams grow up with that group.

His kids are also involved in 4-H, specifically the Airdrie 4-H Beef and Sheep Club.

“It’s such a fantastic program and when we got into that with our kids, we saw leaps and bounds in what it did for our kids in their confidence, to go and stand up in front of a crowd and talk,” he says. “It showed them how hard work pays off, so they’re learning life skills.”

Woolliams is a member of the Canadian Seed Growers Association. He and Kortney are both involved in the Goldenrod Community Club, an association with a hall west of Airdrie dedicated to community events and ensuring people can come together.

The family hosts an annual charity golf classic in conjunction with the Airdrie Health Foundation and the University of Alberta, an event born from the loss of his then 19-year-old nephew. Woolliams understands mental health effects and shares that in 2019, when he failed to produce a crop, he struggled. He has come to understand the importance of health and community in new ways.

“The pressure(s) nowadays I think are a lot more,” he says of farming and life.

Part of the family’s long-term goal is to get a hospital built in Airdrie to replace its urgent care centre.

“If we can do these little things like a golf tournament, hopefully we can gain more people,” he says of working toward a goal. “Then we all start pushing as a team.”

As far as the future is concerned, Woolliams is optimistic and despite the frenetic speed of change, he sees it as positive.

“The future is extremely bright in the ag industry. We’re just starting to blossom. The sky is the limit.”

The motto of Woolliams Farms is ‘Helping Feed the World.’ That is just what he and his family intend to keep doing.

The post Woolliams family wins Master Farm Family award appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The southern Alberta farm is in its fourth generation, operated by brothers Ryland and Lyndon Nakamura. As they head into the growing season, they’re looking forward to another year of growing spuds and digging a bountiful harvest that will become potato chips and french fries.

Quality spuds recently earned them the North American Grower of the Year award from the processor, only the second time it’s been awarded to a Canadian operation and the first for a western Canadian farm. The husband and wife duo Gabriel Blouin and Marie-Josée Lepage of L’Île-d’Orléans of Quebec won in 2022.

The award recognizes potato quality and also the practices used to grow them. When the Nakamuras travelled to this year’s Frito Lay Potato Expo in Austin, Texas, they intended to meet other farmers and enjoy a few days of professional development. They ended up leaving with heavier suitcases.

As awards were handed out during the banquet evening, they sat at their table enjoying a beer. That’s when the emcee began to speak about the Grower of the Year. As a description of the farm was read, it became evident that Nakamura Farms was the subject.

“It was a pleasant surprise,” says Lyndon, adding it’s not an award solely for the brothers. The farm employs 45 people at high season who are critical to the farm’s success.

“It takes everybody, not just Ryland and myself, to plan, prepare and organize. It also comes down to the hands on deck and the boots on the ground that put it all into action. Everybody’s got a role to play at the end of the day. They play a part to make it all successful.”

The Nakamuras sell to five major processors in southern Alberta, including Frito-Lay. Their records must be precise and include everything from dates and times of field passes, crop protection applications, products and rates, even the number of times a field was scouted and what was found. It’s all logged for quality control purposes.

With huge commitments from potato and fry producers, such as regeneratively grown potatoes and sustainable metrics to market to consumers, the brothers know their farming practices are under a microscope. It doesn’t bother them one bit.

“We’ve been doing it for a long time,” says Lyndon of regenerative practices. “We’ve always cover cropped because we don’t want to lose topsoil.”

They lay down a multi-species blend of cover crops each year and focus heavily on fertility, reducing overall tillage, making space for wildlife habitats and doing what they can to improve biodiversity. They share field records with their processors, which also have high standards they must adhere to, in order to receive certain certifications.

They haul potatoes every two to three weeks year-round.

“You could just haul grain once in a while, but when you’re a potato farmer, you get to supply those plants year-round,” says Ryland. “There are spuds coming out of storage and then sometimes you’re digging fresh for a different plant at the same time.”

Having grown for Frito Lay for many years, the brothers value the relationship with the nearby processor and plan to continue doing business with them and the others indefinitely.

“There’s a lot of pride growing for Frito just based on their branding and their connection back to the farms,” says Lyndon. “There’s pride growing for all of them, but especially Frito Lay.”

He says the company keeps farmers in the loop about its production process, upcoming varieties and what next year will bring for demand and production needs.

The brothers’ biggest challenge this year will be Mother Nature. The last few years have been very dry. A mild winter and minimal snowpack have many in the region asking questions about water availability.

Their current water allocation is eight inches, half of what they’d typically require to produce quality potatoes. If they receive little or no rain, like they did in 2023, they’ll have to make tough decisions.

The priority is always potatoes. Those spuds are already under contract, unlike their other crops.

“We’re going to put grain on a lot of our pivots and then if it’s not looking that good, partway through the year we’ll just stop watering the grain and transfer all the water to potatoes,” says Ryland. “That’s the only backup plan we have as of yet. We’ll keep our head down and keep grinding and hopefully have enough water.”

With so much effort put into producing the vegetable at Nakamura Farms, the brothers have no desire to shift gears.

“We invested a pile [of money] and all our investment is in there,” says Ryland. “To start up potato farming is pretty hard. We’re just lucky to have inherited the farm which already had investments in the buildings and storage. You kind of have to stick with potatoes and it’s for the best. It’s a lot more work, but it’s worth it in the end.”

The brothers continue to seek land to purchase or rent to expand their potato acres.

The post Nakamura brothers win major potato award appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The Little Potato Company (TLPC) just opened its doors on a new $40 million processing plant in Nisku, south of Edmonton, the location of its initial plant. The tipping point appears to have been the government’s Agri-Processing Investment Tax Credit. It gives companies that would establish or expand agri-food processing businesses in Alberta a 12 per cent non-refundable tax credit on capital expenditures of more than $10 million.

Savings for TLPC are estimated at $1.3 million.

Agriculture and Irrigation Minister RJ Sigurdson spoke buoyantly of landing the first big fish.

“It’s a huge win,” he said. “Alberta is serious about agri-food processing and having investment in the space. This investment is just what I believe is the start of the wave of that investment that we’re going to see and the growth in agri-food processing in the province of Alberta.”

With the tax credit, Sigurdson said Alberta should now be the top destination for any value-added business in the country and it has the lowest tax regime in Canada. Within his ministry is a team that beats the bushes so companies know the province’s benefits. That team helped TLPC realize the opportunity.

“When the government signals it’s important that you stay and it’s important that they are investing in businesses like that, it definitely has an anchoring effect on a company like us, so it does play a role, 100 per cent,” said Angela Santiago, CEO and co-founder of TLPC.

The company had nearly outgrown its original facility and had outsourced third-party cold storage due to space constraints. Santiago is pleased with the expansion.

“We’ve got a runway for growth, which is super exciting. That means more growing of potatoes in Alberta. It means more processing and packaging of the potatoes in Alberta.”

The new plant will require more workers, but a different kind. With increased emphasis on automated processing, new skills will be required to operate production lines.

TLPC now employs 224 people, with more coming, and the new facility will nearly double its production to 125 million pounds, up from 65 million.

Potato farmers may also benefit. Alberta is the country’s top producer and grows 25 per cent of the total national potato output, besting Prince Edward Island by 4.2 million pounds. Alberta farmers planted 80,100 acres in 2023.

TLPC will need more spuds to sustain its export-focused business. About 70 per cent of its potatoes go to U.S. markets such as Wisconsin, Washington State, Pennsylvania and California.

As the province continues its push for more investment, Sigurdson said the potential is near limitless in Alberta’s agricultural sector.

“Investment in the agricultural space is one of our greatest opportunities to diversify our economy, grow our GDP and support our agricultural industry here in the province,” he said.

To learn more about the tax credit, visit the Government of Alberta website.

The ins and outs of Alberta’s Agri-Processing Investment Tax Credit

During the run-up to the 2023 provincial election, the governing UCP made a pillar of its agriculture platform to cut red tape and make it easier for value-added agribusiness to do business in the province. 

Now that it has its first success story, the provincial government expects more investment to come. There is $175 million available in tax credits for each project and corporations have 10 years to claim the tax credit against their provincial income tax. To be eligible, a business has to spend $10 million or more within the province. 

Eligible capital expenditures include: 

• Land
• Facility construction or expansion
• Processing equipment
• A new build/expansion that makes it possible to produce new or upgraded products 

Ineligible: 

• Construction or expansion of a greenhouse or vertical farm 
• Growing or harvesting crops and livestock

The post Agri-processing incentive lands first big fish appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Research scientist John Laurie has just planted the federal government’s first plots of gene-edited wheat at the Lethbridge Research and Development Centre.

These lines are grown in a greenhouse after being successfully propagated in growth chambers. Laurie is excited for where his work could ultimately lead.

“The best thing that could come out of this would be increased drought tolerance,” he says. “That’s the biggest thing the plants might have to deal with moving forward into the future.”

The edited genes are linked to the plants’ circadian clock. Research scientists in other parts of the world have discovered and isolated a gene called Ppd-1, which regulates how long a plant perceives day length, which translates into date of heading and spike characteristics.

A good example is in tomato, where domestication of a circadian clock gene allowed cultivation in northern latitudes, not just near the equator where it was traditionally grown.

Laurie and project co-lead André Laroche are working with about a half-dozen circadian clock genes similar to Ppd-1 in this spring wheat research. He says if AAFC can create varieties with the Ppd-1-like edits, wheat varieties could function better.

“If these other clock genes are able to even partially do what Ppd-1 has done, then they could have a huge impact on wheat globally,” he says. “In tweaking the clock, we can probably push wheat to maximize its performance.”

Typically, wheat plants have the most photosynthetic ability in the morning and midday. With the edits, Laurie’s research could create wheat with greater ability to receive and use sunlight.

New frontier

During the Green Revolution of the 1960s, innovations were found using mutagenesis, in which plants could be exposed to radiation or various chemicals to create genetic variation. Breeders would then plant those mutated lines and try to discover beneficial mutations.

It was a painstaking process that took years, if not decades, to find improved genetics. Results will presumably flow faster for scientists of all stripes as gene editing gains popularity.

“With gene editing, we precisely target the exact sequence we want,” says Laurie.

His wheat edits were done through dual processes known as Crispr/Cas9 and HI-edit. This shaved years off conventional breeding because uniform genetics are produced the first time, eliminating the need to take a good plant and back-breed it with other crosses to produce new lines.

During the phenotyping stage — observing crop characteristics during selection — Laurie noticed differences in flowering time, plant height and stalk thickness; subtle, yet important, differences.

“It’s not like we’re creating a completely different type of wheat. It’s just we’re tweaking the control that clock has on the plant.”

Spring wheat is a hexaploid, meaning it carries six total genes — two A, B and D genes. Laurie is mixing and matching the edited genes in an attempt to produce elite lines.

“It’s like a thermostat on your house controlling the temperature. You can turn it down a little bit, turn it up a little bit. That’s what we were trying to do with the gene editing.

“It’s not to fully knock out these particular genes, but we actually have the power to regulate those genes.”

Edited lines are being planted alongside the control variety, AC Andrew, a soft white spring wheat.

Welcome development

Laurie’s research is music to the ears of Krista Zuzak, director of crop protection and production at Cereals Canada. Gene editing technology and the edited crops themselves carry significant upside, she believes.

“It can provide many benefits; at the farmer level in terms of production, pest management or better input use efficiency,” she says. “We also see overall benefits for the Canadian economy when we’re protected from pests, especially mycotoxins, which can cause human health issues.”

Zuzak says the technology can help in virtually all areas of production. There is recent gene editing research on powdery mildew resistance and even nitrogen use efficiency in wheat.

“All of it could save farmers money on input costs. That’s one of the exciting parts about gene editing, is that it does have such practical implications and benefits for Canadian farmers as well as the full value chain.”

Funding for this research was provided by RDAR, Alberta Grains, SaskWheat and the International Wheat Yield Partnership.

The post Alberta researcher blazes gene editing trail appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The last two years have produced many hair-raising situations for Alberta’s cattle producers and that’s been the case for feedlot owner Kevin Serfas, who has undertaken a massive feedyard expansion.

Based in Turin, about 50 kilometres north of Lethbridge, he runs Serfas Farms, a sizeable grain farm and feeder cattle business across multiple sites. It’s the cattle side, though, that has seen the most recent and drastic change at the farm.

About two years ago, Serfas decided to undertake a large-scale feedyard expansion for an additional 40,000 head. Before that, he had cattle in six and sometimes seven feedyards from Nanton to Pincher Creek to Vauxhall.

How have things been since the new yard began operations?

“It’s just made everything a lot easier,” he said. “We have better control of processes and things going on. We have been very happy with the way things have gone and we put a good crew together.”

In addition to the new build, Serfas bought a smaller feedyard near Enchant, near his main farmyard. He rebuilt it and created space for another 7,000 cattle. That yard is also fully operational.

Serfas had the humility to know what he didn’t know so he visited other feedyards in southern Alberta and made careful notes about those operations. He made sure to jot down what he liked and thought he could incorporate into his own feedlot. And it took 18 months to go from idea to operation. The new feedlot has been fully stocked since December 2021.

“We hired some people that had some experience in bigger yards in the way things have worked, so again, they kind of bring some of the things they’ve learned, liked and didn’t like. We made a hybrid,” he said.

Serfas took the project as an opportunity to review all practices and procedures that he and his 40 employees follow on a weekly basis. First, the single lunchroom at the main site was eschewed in favour of three different eating areas at three sites. The time saved on coffee breaks alone has created more efficiency.

“Guys don’t have to drive three miles to go to coffee and three miles to go back,” he said.

The animals are being run with a program that puts their welfare front and centre. Low-stress handling is the name of the game for Serfas and as busy as the feedlot is, it’s not a constant din of noise because the cattle are treated calmly.

“That was one of the big things we wanted to make sure of, that there was the least amount of stress put on them,” he said. “There’s not a lot of hootin’ or hollerin’ and it’s really hard to find a cattle prod. It’s very low-stress handling.”

The site is purposefully designed with a three-barn system, each with its own bud box and squeezes that attempt to treat the animals as humanely as possible. The bud boxes are a hit with drivers and the animals respond well too.

“Our cattle load-in and load-out is all done in this bud box style,” Serfas said. “Not a lot of guys got that system in their feedyards, but when truckers show up, they love it, it goes so fast.”

The site also has a new feed mill. Though Serfas admits it is overbuilt, it will be suitable for future growth. The mill has room for 4,000 tonnes of raw storage as well as 600 tonnes of rolled product.

“We wanted to make sure it was big enough so you’re not running out of grain or trucks aren’t getting turned around because there’s not enough room,” he said.

Trucks can roll in, unload within 15 minutes and drive out. These were must-have features for Serfas, who made sure the facility was designed with efficiency above all else.

Although the feedlot is running, Serfas already sees ways to improve.

If money was no object, he said he would have had high-load-tolerant roller compacted concrete (RCC) installed throughout, but that comes with a high price tag. While he did install the surface on the smaller, 7,000-head feedlot next door, he plans to spend the next decade to slowly convert the new lot to RCC, which is easy to clean and maintain.

Serfas is keeping a close eye on crop prices. He is glad they are at all-time highs but knows they will eventually drop.

“What scares me is that this is going to turn around. These record grain prices and fertilizer [prices] are going to drop,” he said. “You just don’t want to be on the wrong side of it when it happens or have expensive grain that could have been sold but you didn’t and the thing tanks on you. There’s a bit of a balancing act there.”

Similarly, he has concerns about the shrinking national cow herd because the feedlot needs incoming feeder cattle. But ultimately, he is focused on things he can control.

“You can’t build a new feedyard and then worry about the next year,” he said.

There’s no slowing down in southern Alberta, and Serfas doesn’t plan to take his foot off the gas simply because his latest project is working well.

“There’s always stuff on the go. We’ve never been ones to be idle. We take pretty calculated looks at different opportunities. If they make sense, we roll with it.”

The post Massive new feedlot working out as planned, says owner appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

As the president of Sunterra Group, which has an eight-store grocery chain (six locations in Calgary, one in Red Deer and one in Edmonton), Price is constantly seeking new ways to offer high-quality products to consumers. His latest venture is a 20-acre greenhouse immediately north of the town of Acme and a stone’s throw from his family farm. 

Construction of the $42-million facility began in early 2021 and the first crop was planted late the same year, despite supply chain disruptions. With 2.5 acres of strawberries and another 17.5 acres of tomatoes — beefsteak, on the vine and grape — the facility has already produced its first crops of fruit for eager consumers. 

The greenhouse produces 35,000 pounds of strawberries and more than one million pounds of tomatoes every month, virtually year round. (They take a two-month break annually to clean out the greenhouse.) 

The first abridged growing year provided a lot of learning for everyone involved and Price said he was pleased the greenhouse stood up well even under the brutal cold snap of late December 2021 when temperatures held steady at -30 C or colder for a week. 

“Some of the hot water pipes we had in place weren’t flowing at the right rate, I don’t know if we would have noticed that with the -30 C,” he said. “We burned a lot of natural gas to heat it. It was a good test for us to understand operations; it worked well and we got some bugs out of it at that time.”

• [READ MORE] Modern technology makes greenhouse greener

The greenhouse is unique in that every row of strawberries is on a hoist gutter system. Lowered to about 1.5 metres during picking, they are usually sitting eight metres off the ground. Every other row, or gutter, is picked, and then the gutters are switched, which allows the greenhouse to have 10 gutters instead of the more traditional seven, in each of its bays. 

This equates to a 30 per cent increase in production and is only the third facility of its kind in North America, said Amanda Hehr, president of Sunterra Greenhouse. 

“It’s going to be a two-to three-year payback, but it really makes sense if you look at the usable life of the greenhouse,” she said, adding yields are 100 kilograms per square metre of plants. 

All strawberries and tomatoes are grown under LED or high-pressure sodium lights. The light spectrum delivered by the energy-efficient LED lights allows them to extend the growing season in March and April as well as September and October. 

The strawberries, sold at Sunterra stores and some Alberta farmers’ markets, are harvested and within 24 hours they are sitting on store shelves ready for purchase. Only about 10 per cent of the million-plus pounds of the monthly tomato harvest (which are also on Sunterra shelves within 24 hours of being picked) each month go to the company’s stores, the remainder are sold to a third- party distributor. 

The greenhouse motto is ‘Growing the ripe way’ — and the northern European variety of strawberry it grows is bred primarily for taste. It’s considered a ‘flavour forward’ variety and has a shorter shelf life than fruit grown in California or Mexico. It’s considerably sweeter as a result. 

A sophisticated controlled-climate software called Priva alerts greenhouse staff when a weather shift is coming and they can adjust venting, temperature and humidity as needed to compensate for the outside ambient air conditions. Throughout the growing season, which runs from October to July, strawberries are maintained between 18 C to19 C ,and tomatoes in a range of 22 C to 24 C. A centre corridor divides the two unique climates and it’s also where workers grade and pack the fruit. 

The greenhouse itself is the first of multiple phases that Price plans to introduce over the next three to four years, which includes a master build of 70 acres of production under glass. The project itself had an average of 80 tradespeople during construction and the greenhouse created 60 permanent full-time jobs. With the future expansion plans, Price estimates another 100 full-time jobs will be created once it’s fully built out. 

The site itself is across a street from the town, which allows workers to drive, bike or even walk to work, essentially an unheard-of prospect in a rural setting. The spinoff benefits of keeping jobs in the community is being felt, as well. Earlier this year, the Alberta government announced a $13.7-million injection over three years for the Acme School’s modernization, something Price thinks would not have happened without families being in the area. 

“With the school and jobs we are creating, there’s momentum that Acme is going to grow and that’s a good thing,” said Price. 

With a better estimate of production and when they can expert mature crops, focused plans will be put into place to sell directly to Alberta retailers. 

Even though the first year was not without expected hiccups, Price said he is glad they are forging ahead with another diversified offering within the family’s agri-food holdings company, which also includes a feedlot, a cured meats division, and a hog farm which directly ships chilled pork to Japan for the tabletop market. 

“Nobody wants to step up and be the first in a lot of ways, everybody else just watches what everybody else does,” he said. “Next season it’s about developing relationships and learnings to implement, and the next thing is a seamless second growing season and making sure the production is getting out there.”

Sunterra Greenhouse by the numbers

• 20: The number of acres (2.5 acres of strawberries and 17.5 acres of tomatoes) 
• 70: Total greenhouse size in acres once fully built within three to four years 
• 130,000: Pounds of strawberries per month 
• 1,000,000-plus: Pounds of tomatoes per month 
• 60: Full-time employees (42 local residents and 18 temporary foreign workers) 
• 100: The number of estimated additional full-time jobs once the greenhouse is fully built out 
• 44: The number of weeks in their winter growing season that runs from October to July each year 
• 8: Metres off the ground the plants rest at 
• 9,740: The total number of lights in the greenhouse (5,400 LED, 4,340 high-pressure sodium) 
• 30: The percentage of increased strawberry yield due to the greenhouse’s unique hoist system 
• Low 20s: Humidity range for strawberries 
• 65-85: Humidity range for tomatoes 

The post Winter has been banished in Sunterra’s high-tech greenhouse  appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The facility’s hoist system provides 30 per cent more yield, but it also does not neglect carbon capture or water leaching, two realities every greenhouse operator must face.

The facility has a carbon dioxide recirculation system built into the boilers. CO2 is a byproduct of burning natural gas and rather than venting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the system recirculates it back into the greenhouse in a controlled fashion to support photosynthesis.

Water which spills over is collected through a sophisticated drainage system. As it’s collected, water goes through a UV sterilization process, which is reused again for watering, saving an estimated 20 to 30 per cent of otherwise wasted water.

“While these features are more capital intensive, they reduce the carbon footprint of our facility,” said Amanda Hehr, president of Sunterra Greenhouse. “Climate-controlled growing is such an efficient way to grow food as opposed to field growing, which uses up to 90 per cent more water and inputs.”

The post Modern technology makes greenhouse greener appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Producers in the province can now choose from 11 organizations — five offering cash advances for grains and oilseeds — when seeking a low- or no-interest loan pledged against their crops, livestock, or other agricultural products.

But the Alberta Wheat Commission’s entry into the business of administering cash advances is being questioned by its main competitor.

Alberta Wheat’s board first considered becoming an administrator of the Advance Payments Program nearly three years ago during a strategic planning meeting. It pursued the opportunity for two reasons, according to general manager Tom Steve.

“Partly because we wanted to satisfy our own curiosity and partly because the government was encouraging us to look at becoming an administrator,” he said. “They believe there was benefit in having more administrators that can communicate the benefits of the program and provide an alternative to producers as to how they access it.”

Alberta Wheat’s program is available to all producers in the province, not just those looking for a specific commodity — an issue that has crept up in the past with honey, potatoes, and greenhouse vegetables.

“The reality is that some of the other administrators have offered it mainly to their members,” said Steve.

But Alberta Wheat’s loan program is largely identical to that of the Canadian Canola Growers Association, a main loan provider in the province.

The CEO of the canola growers’ association characterized the news as “a bit of a surprise, a bit of a disappointment, that AAFC (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada) decided to go the opposite direction by adding a new administrator for no apparent reason.”

Federal officials had told his organization last year that they were not looking for more administrators — in fact, they talked of downsizing, said Rick White.

“AAFC said its view of the future was there would be less administrators of the program, not more,” said White. “There’s already 45 to 50 across Canada. It was our understanding that they were hoping for consolidation in the future, not be adding administrators.”

The cash advance program offers loans of $400,000, with the first $100,000 interest free and the remaining amount at a competitive rate.

“It’s the same cash advance, it’s nothing new,” said White. “In our view, it’s the same program; we’ve been doing it for 35 years. CCGA has the experience, the business process in place, the efficiencies built in, and various ways to apply and repay their advances.

“I don’t think there’s anything new that someone could offer farmers. To us, it appears to be duplication more than anything, which is unfortunate, because farmers pay for the service.”

But Alberta Wheat chair Kevin Bender said his organization is aiming to be different. He characterized other advance programs as cumbersome, and running around to collect signatures was a deterrent for some farmers.

“We’re hoping to have everything be done online a lot simpler — I think that may attract more people to the program,” said Bender. “We’re just trying to provide another way to our growers.”

The Sylvan Lake producer hasn’t used the cash advance program, but is now considering it.

The wheat commission, which shares the same staff with Alberta Barley and also manages the finances of the Barley Council of Canada, will charge a $50 administrative fee — the same as the Canadian Canola Growers Association. Both groups offer the prime rate on the $300,000 portion of the loan.

Even though it’s early days, Steve said 25 to 30 farmers are in Alberta Wheat’s online application queue, which gives him optimism that this initiative has a chance in an already crowded marketplace.

“Considering we’re in the middle of harvest we think that’s encouraging,” he said. “We just started the weekend over Labour Day; we’re getting lots of phone calls and inquiries. We’re very pleased at this time.”

The spring advance always generates more interest, which will provide a truer picture of the overall uptake, he added.

It’s not known if offering cash advances will generate a surplus, said Steve, but if it does, his organization will consult with the ag sector to determine how it will be used. The goal will be to reinvest any surplus back into Alberta agriculture to benefit all producers, he said.

The federal government picks up the tab for the interest costs on the first $100,000 of advances issued, as well as any losses incurred from loan defaults. These costs average approximately $23 million per year, but fluctuate depending on interest rate changes and the economic environment for agriculture. The federal government does not provide financial support to administrators of the Advance Payments Program.

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The federal government, in partnership with the provinces and territories, has allocated $3 billion over the next five years to the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. Alberta’s share is $406 million for 15 programs, with Ottawa paying 60 per cent of the cost and the province covering the other 40 per cent.

Among Alberta’s 15 programs are three new ones that will receive $10 million over the next five years: Public Agriculture Literacy, Youth Agriculture Education, and Agriculture and Food Sustainability Assurance Initiatives.

“Through all the programs, we want to move the dial on public awareness of ag,” said Diana Bingham, program co-ordinator for Public Agriculture Literacy. “There is an increased interest in the public in how their food is produced. They do want to know about their food, but they don’t.”

The goal is “to give the public an accurate view of what happens on the farm,” she said.

“We’re not trying to tell them what to believe because some people have different priorities when it comes to how their food is produced,” said Bingham. “We’re just trying to give them the complete scientific information.”

Similarly, the Youth Agriculture Education plank will seek to educate children from kindergarten to Grade 12 about agriculture, providing objective information related to the various components of agriculture — both conventional and organic.

“We’re not saying organic is better than conventional, or vice versa,” said Bingham. “We’re just saying, ‘Here’s the information, now you’re informed, and you can choose which type of food you can consume.’”

The third program, Agriculture and Food Sustainability Assurance Initiatives, is aimed at farmers and agri-food processors. The goal is to develop assurance systems to help sustainably produce and process food.

Bingham said she expects the farmer and processor grant to consume the majority of funding since it will likely involve creating a new assurance program or adapting a pre-existing platform. The Environmental Farm Plan and the Verified Beef Production Plus are two examples that could be used as templates for commodity groups, not-for-profits, and registered agricultural societies that apply for funding, said Bingham.

“They’re going to be very instrumental for us and other programs seeing as they’re the leaders in this assurance area,” she said. “We are going to be learning a lot from them… we’ll then work with other commodities and work through a similar process.”

One of the organizations consulted by provincial officials when developing the program was Canadian Centre for Food Integrity, an industry- and government-supported advocacy group in Guelph, Ont., that promotes public trust in the food system.

The organization’s executive director supports the new Alberta program.

“I’m really energized to see programming like we’re seeing in Alberta to take the insights the CCFI has been working on and putting them to work in Alberta,” said Crystal Mackay.

Consumer polling by her organization has found consumers love farmers and like agriculture but are unsure about industry practices.

“The next piece is they go online for their information, but when they go online they are not finding credible Canadian content,” she said. “Our sector needs to up our game in online conversations and presence… thousands of conversations are happening online and we’re not a part of it.”

The province plans to have two grant annual intake periods, one in the spring and one in the fall. The fall deadline this year is Sept. 21. For more information, go to the Canadian Agricultural Partnership Alberta website.

UPDATE: The fall deadline previously indicated Sept. 21.

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Seed selection tends to be a very linear game. Seed companies typically contact seed growers with new varieties that may perform well and appeal to their customers. From there, the seed growers will work with their customers to provide reasonable choices based on the agronomics of their area and new information they’ve learned about seeds that have recently hit the market.

Greg Stamp is a certified seed farmer along with his two brothers in southern Alberta and said there is a back and forth between them and the seed companies to get new crop types and varieties in his ground.

“Sometimes I say, ‘Hey, what’s in the pipeline? What should I be growing?’ They know my sales records and how I do business with people,” said Stamp. “I’m open to growing whatever because our customer base is so diverse. With a hard red spring wheat (HRS) you have so many varieties; some are early, some have standability. Other classes aren’t that different like durum.”

• Read more: Wheat varieties to keep an eye on

Stamp attends field days (and hosts one of his own), reads co-op trial data, and reviews information multiple times throughout the year on varieties that pique his interest.

However, some farmers already have their mind made up and they are only at the yard to purchase seed and nothing more.

“Some guys, they’ve researched it for a while, they know what they want and why — and they don’t even want your advice. They just want to know the price,” he said. “Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. Some guys say, ‘Here’s my situation, what would be a good fit for me?’ I get all kinds. It really depends on the farmer.”

One of Stamp’s customers who is interested in conversations and recommendations is Kerby Redekop, who farms in southern Alberta at Bennen Farms.

“We picked (our varieties) kind of looking at the markets, what we thought what might net out a good return, a combination of yield and price,” said Redekop, adding that strong fusarium resistance as well as standability are two characteristics he’s always keen on. This year, though, he said his biggest challenge wasn’t characteristics but rather spring wheat versus durum, and securing a solid market price.

Redekop said his primary avenues for intel are fellow farmers in his area, his seed supplier, field days, and seed-related news.

“We live in an information age, but it’s still face to face and talking to neighbours and seed growers that are the most trusted source of information for us and our farm.”

The information age has certainly proved that old dogs can learn new tricks. Stamp looks after his farm’s marketing and has had “tons” of interest through social media.

“It’s been big for us to build a brand,” he said. “It gets farmers’ eyes on your crop, tweeting pictures of your variety and where there might be a fit.

“Even just the branding and awareness — maybe you don’t do business with this person on Twitter, but I’ve (been) recommended to someone else via a person on Twitter and he’ll get connected to me through that.”

In the Peace Country, Brent Konstapel helps farm 12,000 acres with his family northwest of Spirit River and scours the Twitterverse, learning from fellow farmers and eyeing their varieties.

“You’re always looking at it and there’s lots of reading,” he said. “You get to see different areas and lots of varieties. That’s the beauty of (social media).”

Geography always plays a role.

Fusarium isn’t a major concern for Konstapel and this year he chose varieties based on standability and midge tolerance, including three varieties of HRS: Muchmore, Landmark, and Brandon.

Both Brandon and Muchmore have high yield ratings and the latter also has better harvest time straw management in Konstapel’s eyes. Landmark’s midge tolerance rating has him optimistic, too. With his malting barley, he is planting Copeland, a deviation from the norm of Metcalfe. He is curious to see how it performs but also won’t stray from those two simply because they’re the only varieties his local elevator handles.

Like Redekop, Konstapel appreciates talking to his local seed supplier and learning at farm shows. He occasionally calls seed companies to ask questions, but rarely do they reach out directly to him.

An area where farmers will never have the upper hand is knowing what variety will prove to be the best blend of yield and resistance to disease and pests. Stamp cringes when he deals with farmers who pick their next variety based on last year’s problem.

“The year we got snow everyone was concerned about season length and how short season their crop was,” he said. “When we had a tough fusarium year, everyone was concerned about the fusarium package and (the following) year not as concerned. Sometimes people get too reactionary with how they pick their varieties.”

Stamp said farmers’ short memories may hurt them because their seed choices would be best measured over a three-year term, not just a single season. He said people don’t give certain varieties a fair shake.

“I’m trying to grow varieties that address a number of these problems,” he said. “They all want big yields with a certain variety, but maybe you have to spray a growth regulator. It requires more management, but not everyone wants to do some of these extra practices.

“It’s working with them to find out what their farming style is and what’s a fit for them.”

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