Reading Time: 3 minutes In a surprise announcement, Alberta Agriculture Minister George Groeneveld says he will introduce legislation to end non-refundable commodity checkoffs in Alberta. This move affects only four organizations, Alberta Beef Producers, Alberta Pork, Alberta Lamb Producers and the Potato Growers of Alberta. Supplymanaged poultry and dairy boards are not affected. All other commodity groups with mandated […] Read more
Minister Axes Nonrefundable Checkoffs
Minister Uses Checkoff To Punish Opposition
Reading Time: 4 minutes This arbitrary decision by the minister will have national and even international consequences on the cattle industry. Alberta Agriculture Minister George Groeneveld has sent a clear message to livestock producers in this province – “It’s my way or the highway.” In an unprecedented move, and without a producer plebiscite, he has introduced legislation to turn […] Read more
Program Expenditures Protected In Budget
Reading Time: 2 minutes There were no surprises – or at least no signs of significant cutbacks – for the Agriculture Department in the 2009-10 Alberta government budget. However that may change depending on this year’s revenues. The biggest expenditures will be in insurance and income support programs which are budgeted at $820 million. A new feature in the […] Read more
AFRP Payments Prove Disappointing To Many
Reading Time: 3 minutes Perhaps the government should have been more transparent about the AFRP budget shortfall and made an effort to explain it to producers well before it sent out the cheques. Cattle producers are now finding out what hog producers already knew a few months ago – payments under AFRP II are not what they expected. Even […] Read more
The Answer May Not Be Blowing In The Wind
Reading Time: 3 minutes Upon further research one becomes surprised at the astounding and growing opposition to windmills and wind farms in Europe. The proliferation of wind farms in southern Alberta raises different perspectives, depending on whether they are on your property. For those that have commercial windmills on their land and have cut a good deal with the […] Read more
Two Veterans Honoured At Annual Meeting
Reading Time: 3 minutes “We need to take action before imposed change comes at us – that was the strongest message we kept repeating and repeating.” with files from AFAC and Meristem Fifteen years ago a group of livestock and poultry organizations made some tentative steps to establishing an animal welfare organization that reflected the voice of commercial animal […] Read more
Safety Program Is In The Works
Reading Time: 2 minutes Agriculture Minister George Groeneveld says the government intends to act on a recommendation to include farm workers under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The recommendation came from an inquest into the death of Kevan Chandler on a feedlot south of Calgary last year. “The judge made the recommendation and it is our plan to […] Read more
Deputy Agriculture Minister Is Making His Mark
Reading Time: 3 minutes Subsequent ministers and their deputies took a knife to that bloated situation, but they may have gone too far. It’s one of those expectations or maybe fears, depending on your perspective, of what changes new government ministers and deputy ministers bring with them as they assume their offices. I guess it’s part of the political […] Read more
Dairy Farmers’ Success Faces Real Threat
Reading Time: 4 minutes One suspects that the Canadian Wheat Board export monopoly is the real target of the government’s trade vexation. It seems every year now the steadiest and most profitable producers in Canadian agriculture, dairy farmers, have had to fight for their very existence. One might think that the threat to their livelihood comes from a volatile […] Read more
Glory Days Of Livestock Production May Be Over
Reading Time: 3 minutes As the livestock industry has learned over the years, political circumstances have shown that the free market is not really free. A recent report by the USDA noted that the U.S. cattle herd was down to numbers last seen in the 1950s. The Alberta cattle herd may be down by 1 million head by this […] Read more
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