While conservation efforts have had some success, what remains of the grasslands that once covered the West is small and getting smaller, says Barry Irving, co-chair of the North American group behind the UN International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists in 2026.

Threatened rangelands will be in the global spotlight in 2026

The UN’s international year will highlight both the threat and ways to preserve this critical habitat

Reading Time: 3 minutes Peas, lentils and beans got a big boost in their public profile thanks to the UN’s International Year of Pulses in 2016 and soon rangelands will get their turn in the spotlight. While “it’s tough to get people excited” about an event that’s still three years away, the UN International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists […] Read more

The Pasture 101 website has good information and resources that allow users to quickly find what they need for their operation or situation.

Grazing management website truly is a ‘one-stop shop’

Finding info relevant for Alberta used to be challenging, but Pasture 101 changed that

Reading Time: 3 minutes There was a time when students of a pasture school came home with a large binder of pasture management information. It wasn’t something easily carried around, especially not on horseback. These days there’s an easier way and it’s called Pasture 101. “It’s designed to provide basic and advanced components of pasture and grazing management,” said […] Read more


File photo of a cow grazing near Leader, Sask., about 85 km south of Kindersley. (James_Gabbert/iStock/Getty Images)

Saskatchewan holds Crown grazing rents at last year’s levels

Also, leaseholders on drought-downgraded land eligible for rate cut

Cattle producers leasing Crown land for grazing in Saskatchewan won’t see a rate hike this year and may be eligible for a significant rate cut. The provincial government announced Wednesday it has frozen the rates charged to producers who lease Crown grazing land in 2023 at their 2022 level. The freeze will apply to all […] Read more

Today most fescue grasslands are gone — the Nature Conservancy of Canada calls them the most endangered ecosystem in the world. But there are still healthy pockets in Alberta.

PHOTOS: The rough fescue grasses of Alberta

Reading Time: < 1 minute Rough fescue is a densely tufted bunchgrass. Three varieties grow in Canada: Plains rough fescue, foothills rough fescue and northern rough fescue. What makes these grasses unique, owner of Mount Sentinel Ranch Sarah Green says, is that unlike other grasses, they cure on long stems above ground, keeping palatable high-quality nutrients available even in deep […] Read more


At a field day last month, Mike Groot explains how he set up the livestock water and fencing for his 24-acre series of test plots at his family’s farm for the Living Labs soil health research initiative.

Test plot measures the benefits of grazing in crop rotation

Researchers studying impact of including pasture in a cash crop rotation at Ontario farm

Reading Time: 2 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – They’ve been dubbed “crazy strips,” but there’s a method to Mike Groot’s patchwork of perennial pasture stands within a larger plot trial. The Ontario farmer is a participant in a project being conducted under the Living Labs initiative, a federal program that tests innovative practices and technologies on farms. Groot is hoping the […] Read more

Signage outside McCain’s Farms of The Future site at Florenceville-Bristol, about 110 km northwest of Fredericton. (Photos courtesy McCain)

Learning from McCain’s regenerative farming practices

Potato processing giant aims to 'de-risk' practices for growers

In 2021 McCain said it was going to launch three regenerative potato farming operations by 2025 and would label them “Farms of the Future.” The first, just outside of Florenceville-Bristol, N.B., now offers data to reflect on the effectiveness of the practices at the potato farm after its first fully operational season. “If we don’t […] Read more


Barry Yaremcio is one of many grazing experts preaching patience this spring but he says a sacrifice pasture or seeding some winter cereals in spring for grazing later could be a fall back plan.

You don’t want to hear this — but delay grazing, say experts

Even good moisture this spring won’t easily overcome the effects of drought

Reading Time: 4 minutes If you’re a cattle producer, you may be counting down the days until you can turn your cows out on grass. But three experts are telling you the best thing you can do is wait. “Watch what the plants tell you,” said Grant Lastiwka, a forage specialist with Union Forages. “A perennial pasture has a […] Read more

This screengrab from a webinar last winter put on by Cory Van Groningen and Dana Penrice shows some of the parameters and scoring system.

Program measures pasture progress by the numbers

Rather than focus on a theory, Ecological Outcome Verification relies on tracking measurable parameters

Reading Time: 3 minutes Years of researching how to get the most out of the pastures on his southern Ontario beef farm left Cory Van Groningen frustrated. “One book says only take the top sward and leave the rest to regrow; another book says use high-intensity grazing and trample it down; another book says take a third of the […] Read more


Tailoring stewardship work to individual operations has been the key to the success of ALUS, says Vermilion-area rancher Sean McGrath, whose pilot project in 2010 created a surge of interest in the program in Alberta.

New grazing stewardship program for 6,000 Prairie acres

Program has a component to help ranchers adopt multi-paddock grazing and regenerative agriculture

Reading Time: 3 minutes After growing its acres by 20 per cent last year, ALUS has lined up two big sponsors for a new initiative called Grazing Forward that will fund stewardship projects on 6,000 acres of Prairie ranchland. “A&W Canada and Cargill will together provide $1.8 million to support ranchers in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba as they continue to […] Read more

A 3-D illustration of Bacillus anthracis bacteria. (Dr_Microbe/iStock/Getty Images)

Anthrax kills southeastern Saskatchewan sheep

Spores forced up by changes in soil moisture

Dramatic shifts in soil moisture are again bringing anthrax spores to the surface on the Prairies, this time in a southeastern Saskatchewan sheep pasture. Lab results on Wednesday confirmed anthrax as the cause of death of one animal in a flock of sheep in the R.M. of South Qu’Appelle, about 50 km east of Regina, […] Read more