Reading Time: 4 minutes Planning and preparation make for a good road trip — especially if your mode of transportation is 30 horses pulling eight wagons. Neil Dimmock needed porta-potties, campers, dozens of volunteers (and enough food to keep them happy), generous landowners and sponsors, a stack of permits, hundreds of gallons of water, tons of hay and oats, […] Read more
Neil Dimmock’s big dream — and his really big wagon train
A loving look at rural life in Alberta and Saskatchewan
Reading Time: < 1 minute Following a successful ‘world premier’ tour of nine small communities in Alberta and Saskatchewan, the National Film Board has put the 10 short films in its Grasslands Project online. Last year, filmmaker Scott Parker spent six months in Saskatchewan and Alberta to create the 10 films based on community-generated ideas. Subjects, themes, and even interview […] Read more
A young man’s journey and how 4-H changed his life
Reading Time: 4 minutes As a 4-H leader there are times when you wonder if it is really worth it. It can be a little overwhelming. There is a ton of paperwork, the need to be beyond organized and at times you feel like you need to be in two places at once… and sometimes you really do need […] Read more
Award recognizes producers who help pollinators
Nominations open until August 12
Reading Time: < 1 minute Nominations are being sought for the 2016 Canadian Farmer-Rancher Pollinator Conservation Award. Individuals or families in Canada currently implementing pollinator protection measures on their farm or ranch are encouraged to apply. The award recognizes farmers and ranchers who have made significant efforts in conserving natural ecosystems, fostering additional pollinator habitat, and protecting pollinators. It is […] Read more
Scholarships available for farm management program
Reading Time: < 1 minute Applications are being accepted for the Robert L. Ross Memorial Scholarship to attend the CTEAM program. CTEAM (short for Canadian Total Excellence in Agricultural Management and operated by Agri-Food Management Excellence) is Canada’s only national farm management learning program. During the program, farmers learn detailed financial, marketing and human relations management skills, using their own […] Read more
Challenge equals opportunity for Outstanding Young Farmers
Reading Time: 3 minutes Schooten and Sons is one busy place. The Lethbridge-area operation has four feed yards with a combined 40,000-head capacity; 6,300 acres of crops and pasture; a 300-head cattle herd; custom farming business; trucking company; composting operation; and 35 employees. It’s a big change from the smaller, single feedlot that Shane, Cody, and Justin Schooten grew […] Read more
Hope and heartache in drought-stricken Ethiopia
Reading Time: 3 minutes When Lindsey Cowan went to Ethiopia in early February, she expected to find subsistence farmers eking out a meagre living on lands that haven’t seen rain in the past two growing seasons. She expected to find poverty, famine, and drought. But she didn’t expect to find joy amidst it all. “Everyone was running around with […] Read more
Back to Ag Program helps injured farmers
Reading Time: 3 minutes Three injured farmers from Saskatchewan and one from Ontario have received funding to help them get back to what they love — farming. The Back to Ag Program gives injured producers up to $10,000 to help with the purchase of adaptive technology such as a cattle-handling system, grain-handling system, or wheelchair lift. The program is […] Read more
Group wants to help new farmers find success
Reading Time: 3 minutes The Canadian Foodgrains Bank enjoyed another year of stellar support from Albertans — and every dollar of the $2.6 million raised in the province in 2015 was put to good use. “There is a lot of need,” said Terence Barg, one of the Foodgrains Bank’s two co-ordinators in Alberta. The organization, a partnership of 15 […] Read more
Family living on the land makes it through ‘starvation month’
Reading Time: 2 minutes Back in the pioneer days, April was known as “starvation month” because this was when food stores started to run out, and the new growing season hadn’t started yet. This isn’t a concern for most people today, unless you’re living off the land, like the Ruzicka family. The Ruzickas have pledged to spend a year […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
