Reading Time: 3 minutes In this edition, we feature some stories on the impact of the southern Alberta floods and rain deluge on the ag sector. Clearly the impact has been most severe in Calgary and a number of smaller centres. Individual farms and ranches were affected, but they are few compared to the widespread devastation in residential areas. […] Read more
Flood raises some questions about more mitigation projects
Flooding is a fact of life is much of southern Alberta and the practice of building residential subdivisions in flood plains needs to be questioned
Report spreads the blame
Reading Time: 2 minutes A select committee of experts has released a report on the E. coli outbreak at the former XL Foods beef plant in Brooks. The committee was created by the federal government to find a cause for the outbreak and to make some recommendations to avert such a fiasco in the future. This investigation was demanded […] Read more
Supply management message misinterpreted
Reading Time: < 1 minute RE: “Dairy Farmers show some bend in supply management” (AF May 27, 2013, Sylvain Charlebois) Charlebois states that the Canadian Dairy Commission’s introduction of Class 3(d) is a sign that supply management is on the way out, however, he misinterpreted this change. We wouldn’t endorse a change that would foster the movement for the demise […] Read more
WTO actions must be continued
Reading Time: 2 minutes Re: The opinion piece entitled “Please, let’s not win any more trade battle” by John Morriss in the June 24 issue. The viewpoints expressed demonstrate a clear misunderstanding of the nature of the dispute regarding U.S. mandatory Country of Origin Labelling (COOL). The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) supports the concept of voluntary country of origin […] Read more
Please, let’s not ‘win’ any more beef trade battles
While we fight an unwinnable battle against COOL, the Americans are stealing our domestic meat market
Reading Time: 3 minutes Traceability is a fact of life for almost every other commodity that consumers buy; yet somehow we have not embraced traceability’s potential in the world of food. I cannot buy an iPhone that does not have complete traceability back to its basic components; yet what we put into our bodies is rarely traceable to source. […] Read moreAn anniversary manywould like to forget
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 moreDefining 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
U.S. farmers must get ready for climate change
Reading Time: 2 minutes Excerpt from a speech by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to the National Press Club in Washington, June 5, 2013. I’m the secretary of sgriculture, and I am not here today to give a scientific lecture on climate change. I’m here to tell you what we’re seeing on the ground. We’re seeing more severe storms. […] 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
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
