Reading Time: < 1 minute Seventeen Alberta community groups received $185,000 from Farm Credit Canada’s AgriSpirit Fund in 2014. The fund awards rural community groups between $5,000 and $25,000 for community improvement projects, such as recreation and community centres, libraries, and emergency services training facilities. All projects are based in communities with populations less than 150,000 and the 2014 recipients […] Read more
Seventeen communities tap into AgriSpirit Fund
Garlic festival a joyous (and odorous) celebration
Andrew festival showcases garlic and celebrates the village’s Ukrainian heritage
Reading Time: 2 minutes For 16 years, residents of the town of Andrew have gathered to celebrate the stinking rose — and every year, more and more visitors join them. “It’s just grown tremendously,” said Carri Hrehorets, president of the Andrew Agricultural Society in the village of 400 located an hour’s drive northeast of Edmonton. “We get about 1,000 […] Read more
Only in the digital age — Alberta and Ukrainian cattle vets a YouTube sensation
A shared passion for veterinary medicine and YouTube has Albertan Cody Creelman helping a Ukrainian colleague in his bid to win a bovine ultrasound
Reading Time: 4 minutes It started with an online friendship between two cattle veterinarians, and blossomed into a worldwide, viral campaign. Even though he doesn’t speak a word of Ukrainian, Airdrie vet Cody Creelman, was drawn to the online videos of Vadim Pryadko, who lives in a town called Khmelnitsky near the Polish border. “We developed a relationship,” said […] Read more
Robert L. Ross Memorial Scholarship created
Alberta producer Mike Kalisvaart pays tribute to business management expert and teacher
Reading Time: 2 minutes A new scholarship is being offered to farmers who want to improve their farm business management skills. The Robert L. Ross Memorial Scholarship offers free tuition to the CTEAM (Canadian Total Excellence in Agricultural Management) program and up to $4,000 towards travel expenses. “Bob Ross was instrumental in the creation of CTEAM,” said Heather Broughton, […] Read more
Battle of the Breeds still going strong after 25 years
Ten horse breeds pitted against one another in trail riding, barrel racing
Reading Time: < 1 minute From fully feathered Gypsy Vanners to pipsqueak ponies, the Battle of the Breeds horse competition is a spectacle that tests the versatility, bravery and speed of each horse. The event, now 25 years old, pits 10 breeds against one another in trail riding and barrel racing. The trail course at the Spruce Meadows equestrian complex […] Read more
Linked by a love of the land
'Gathering' event brings together women of influence to promote conservation
Reading Time: 4 minutes It certainly wasn’t the first time Dorothy Edge had stepped into the saddle of a sure-footed horse to ride the range in the autumn-tinged foothills of southern Alberta. But it was the first time she’d done that with several dozen other ladies from various walks of life, including Laureen Harper. Dorothy and neighbour Jo Hutchinson […] Read more
Pot-bellied pigs, Shetland ponies and rabbits, oh my!
Lloydminster Rare and Exotic Fall Sale, Saturday, Sept. 27
Reading Time: 2 minutes Pssst… Do you want to buy a duck? Or sell a goat? How about a donkey? Then the annual Lloydminster Rare and Exotic Fall Sale on Sept. 27 is for you. The sale, which has been running for 31 years, is popular with hobby farmers and attracts about 800 people from Alberta and Saskatchewan each […] Read more
Giving back in a big way
Reading Time: 3 minutes His charity efforts are soaring as high as his country music career. The record $503,000 raised at Gord Bamford’s seventh annual golf tourney at the Lacombe Golf Club and a sold-out gala in Red Deer last month had the country star shaking his head in wonder. “I was thinking about our first year when the […] Read more
Alberta agricultural producers accept the ice bucket challenge
Reading Time: < 1 minute The ice bucket challenge is hot, and members of Alberta’s farm community aren’t letting it cool off. Rick Taillieu of the Alberta Canola Producers Commission let each of his four daughters dump a bucket of ice water on his head. Farm advocate and blogger Sarah Schultz allowed her brother-in-law to use a front-end loader to […] Read more
A lesson in (barley) emasculation
Reporter's notebook: Pollination and plant breeding at Lacombe Field Day
Reading Time: 2 minutes The more I learn about plant breeding, the more I feel I missed my true calling in life. And a recent attempt at crossing two barley plants at the Lacombe Field Day only fuelled my secret ambition. I worked with Laura Hoge, a germplasm technician at Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, in a machine shed […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
