The impact of historic-high flooding on Alberta’s agriculture industry isn’t expected to be severe. “It is early. I would say at this point we don’t have any reports of catastrophic damage to crops and livestock,” said provincial Agriculture Minister Verlyn Olson. “I’m sure there will be cases where there is some damage but for the most […] Read more
Alberta’s farms escape worst of flooding
Supply and demand part of global lamb price drop: experts
Reading Time: 2 minutes High feed prices, oversupply and lower consumer demand are some of the factors believed to be causing the falling price of lamb, say industry analysts. “I would suggest that it’s mostly a demand-and-supply type of issue,” said Chris Panter, a provincial livestock market analyst with Alberta Agriculture. He said since the historic 2011 peak, rail-grade […] Read more
Protecting creeks by protecting groundwater: an expert’s view
Reading Time: 2 minutes Long-term monitoring of groundwater around the province is essential to ensure aquifers don’t run dry, says a professor of hydrology from the University of Calgary. “We need to manage the groundwater in a way that we can avoid the well running dry and your creek is going dry,” said Masaki Hayashi, speaking about the connections […] Read more
Province releases consultant’s report on Meat Inspection Branch
Reading Time: 2 minutes Internal reviews and improving communication with the provincially inspected meat slaughter facilities are two of the recommendations in a recently released report on the Alberta Meat Inspection Branch. “I think probably one significant issue that stood out was the lack of what industry saw as common treatment,” said George Cuff, who was hired last year […] Read more
New active herbicide ingredient announced
Reading Time: 2 minutes Dow AgroSciences says it will demonstrate a herbicide with a new active herbicide across Canada this summer. Arylex, for control of broadleaf weeds in wheat and barley, is the member of a new Group 4 chemical family called Arylpicolinates. “This will be the first place it’s launched in the world,” said Kelly Bennett, a portfolio […] Read more
Ag players find Kazakhstan, Russia open for business
Industry representatives from Alberta and throughout Canada have told the federal and provincial agriculture ministers they’ve been having a successful mission in Kazakhstan. “The industry people who I’ve been travelling with have told me just about every day they’ve been here they’ve had very productive meetings,” Alberta Agriculture Minister Verlyn Olson, said Thursday on a […] Read more
Alta. growers catching up on seeding
Producers across Alberta are thoroughly taking advantage of warm, dry mid-May weather to catch up on seeding. The first provincial crop report was issued May 6, and at that time, less than three per cent of the province had been seeded, with the southern region being the most advanced at nine per cent. “As a […] Read more
ALMA reacts to provincial budget cut by reducing program funding
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency (ALMA) will not shut down any programs because of the $8-million cut out of its budget, but each program will receive less. “What we did is reduce the amount of the envelope for each of the programs,” said Gordon Cove, CEO of ALMA. ALMA’s budget was slashed from about […] Read more
Calgary Co-op meets with Alberta Pork before deciding on gestation stall ban
Reading Time: 2 minutes Calgary Co-op is the latest food company casting a critical eye on the use of gestation stalls in the pork sector, but the company is working with Alberta Pork before taking action. Co-op members passed a non-binding resolution last month that would see the company stop selling pork from farms using the stalls within five […] Read more
Agriculture education programs assess budget implications
Reading Time: 3 minutes Post-secondary institutions across Alberta have seen budget cuts in the recent provincial budget, but the effect on agricultural programs remains to be seen. According to the Ministry of Enterprise and Advanced Education, the operation support funding provided by the government to post-secondary schools throughout Alberta is being decreased by $147 million in comparison to last […] Read more
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