Testing of beef carcasses was fiercely resisted but remains the ‘what if’ legacy of the BSE outbreak
Reading Time: 3 minutes Anumber of media outlets, including some big-city daily newspapers, have been commemorating the 10th anniversary of the outbreak of BSE in Alberta. It’s an anniversary that I expect most folks in the cattle industry who were adversely affected by this calamity would rather forget. But it is somewhat curious to see urban newspapers run stories […] Read moreAn anniversary manywould like to forget
Defining the meaning of ‘local’
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has announced that it will be initiating a study into the definition of “local” food. The present labelling regulation states that local food is defined as being sold within 50 miles of where it is grown or within a local jurisdiction. The CFIA feels that definition is out of […] Read more
The drones are coming to a sky near you
Reading Time: 3 minutes Most folks have heard about the use of drones for military purposes, but there is a much better future for these unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), as they are officially called, in the world of agriculture. A number of universities and research agencies are already busily investigating their use mainly for crop surveillance of diseases and […] Read more
Retiring deputy minister can look back on big changes
Reading Time: 2 minutes After guiding Alberta Agriculture through some turbulent times, Deputy Minister John Knapp has announced that he will be retiring in July. First some transparency — I have known John for over 25 years and consider him a personal friend. He started out as a DA in southern Alberta and was a provincial sheep specialist for […] Read more
Temporary worker program has worked well for agriculture
Reading Time: 3 minutes The recent federal government announcement that it would be making some changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) has caused some anxiety in the intensive agriculture sectors in Alberta. It would seem that whenever a government program is working well and there is an announcement of changes, one senses that they may not help […] Read more
A spring of anxiety for crop and livestock producers
Reading Time: 4 minutes At press time one could sense an increase in the anxiety level of crop producers. The reason being that spring has yet to arrive anywhere in the province. It’s of particular concern in southern Alberta, the home of many speciality crops that need to be seeded early into a warming soil. Growers of sugar beets, […] Read more
Media fascinated with horsemeat
Reading Time: 4 minutes One can’t help but notice the recent fascination the urban media has had with horsemeat. It’s particularly curious for the North American media to be so obsessed, being the consumption of horsemeat is virtually non-existent on this continent. Yet we saw a constant stream of news reports that the so-called horsemeat scandal had spread to […] Read more
An Alberta giant passes on
Reading Time: 2 minutes It was a sad day for Albertans when former premier Ralph Klein passed away recently. He was a larger-than-life leader who reached a status that few politicians reach — he was a legend and an icon. He led the province from a fiscal basket case to fiscal surpluses and he did it his way — […] Read more
Trials and tribulations keep on coming for cattle industry
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s a good thing folks in the cattle and beef industry are tough and resilient considering what has happened to them over the past year or so. I should add patient to those attributes for their accepting with fortitude every new calamity and setback that would almost wipe out a lot of other industries. Perhaps […] Read more
Agriculture budget cutbacks — it could have been worse
Reading Time: 3 minutes Whenever agriculture or farmers are mentioned on the front page of an urban newspaper it must be of some consequence. So it was recently with the announcement of government cutbacks to the 2013 Alberta Agriculture budget. However, determining how much is actually going to be cut is the question. That’s not unique to the agriculture […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
