Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadian farm cash receipts rose to $101 billion in 2025 as surging livestock revenues offset declining crop receipts and shrinking direct government payments.
Livestock receipts drive farm cash to $101B despite crop decline
Rising cattle prices push livestock receipts from $30B in 2021 to $45B, while direct government payments fall to lowest level in five years
Ducks, slides and dog guides: How a slippery stunt teaches serious herding skills
An Alberta dog trainer says animals respond more effectively to non-verbal communication than to words
Reading Time: 4 minutes An Alberta dog trainer believes that body language, posture and hand signals are much more important than verbal commands.
Best before doesn’t mean bad after
Good food often goes to waste due to misunderstandings about best before dates
Reading Time: 5 minutes Best before dates are not expiry dates, and the confusion often leads to plenty of food waste.
A great idea for repurposing grain bins
This Southern Alberta ranching operation puts effort and equity into a diversification project
Reading Time: 5 minutes The Morrison family of southern Alberta have transformed old grain bins into unique guest cabins.
Photo: Hungry elk herd
Reading Time: < 1 minute No, this is not an elk farm. This herd was just passing through the pasture fields, on a ranch between Okotoks and Turner Valley. Wildlife damage usually increases in late winter as hunger makes wildlife more bold, said Charity Wallace of Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development. Limiting access to food sources, like bales and […] Read more
Alzheimer’s on the farm carries special risks
People living on farms face additional challenges when dealing with Alzheimer’s
Reading Time: 4 minutes Watching Alzheimer’s steal away a loved one is always painful, but there are additional challenges when you’re living on a farm. Trent, a grain farmer from east-central Alberta, knows this all too well. He farmed with his father, now in his late 70s, until five years ago. “I knew Dad was getting older and getting […] Read more
The formula for success on your farm
Straight from the hip: The challenges in farming are numerous and diverse, but Nuffield Scholar Jamie McCoy has found successful farmers have a common approach
Reading Time: 3 minutes When Jamie McCoy, my guest from Wales, sat around our fire last summer, she glowed with passion for the family farm. A fellow Nuffield Scholar, her project was to look at opportunities for small holdings. The release of her report in 2014, the International Year of Family Farming, could not be timelier. Of course the […] Read more
Be safe when moving equipment
There are many pitfalls — from not wearing a seatbelt to free-wheeling in higher gears — that increase the chances of being in a serious accident
Reading Time: 3 minutes According to the Canadian Agricultural Injury Reporting (CAIR) program, 13 per cent of farm-related fatalities across Canada are traffic related, and most involved tractors. During the busy fall harvest season, farmers often travel long distances between fields, and this requires transporting equipment on public roads throughout rural Alberta. Farm equipment is oversized and slow compared […] Read more
Be safe around power lines
Reading Time: < 1 minute Joint Utility Safety Team – Every day, two to three Albertans needlessly risk their lives by contacting an overhead or underground power line. In 2013, this translated into about 782 power line incidents in Alberta. Although that’s a significant decrease from the 934 incidents reported in 2012, power line safety should be top of mind for […] Read more
It’s no longer a man’s world in agriculture
Conference highlights the new reality — women not only play a key role in agriculture but are critical to its success
Reading Time: 3 minutes ‘Mommas, don’t let your daughters miss out on careers in agriculture!’ That’s how the Willie and Waylon classic could have been modified by anyone attending the inaugural Advancing Women Conference in Calgary. The event, created by well-known conference organizer Iris Meck, was designed to provide life and leadership skills for women involved in agriculture. While […] Read more