Reading Time: 3 minutes Thank you for the recent article about feed assistance in Alberta Farmer Express. I would like to add to this. I am a cattle producer in northern Alberta. We did receive some rain in late August, but too late for our first and often only cut of hay. Our area does not qualify for the […] Read more
Letter to the editor: AgriRecovery too limited for cattle sector
Opinion: Fighting for low grain prices
One bushel of barley can make 500 bottles of beer, but the Wheat Growers are asking for help to make it cheaper
Reading Time: 3 minutes It used to be that if you wanted to raise a farmer’s blood pressure, you only had to suggest that an increase in bread prices was due to a change in the price of wheat. That started in the 1970s after wheat prices skyrocketed to the $6 per bushel range after the “Great Grain Robbery,” […] Read more
Fake meat is mostly a fake-out for now
Meat alternative companies have made big boasts, but the numbers are on the side of real animal products
Reading Time: 2 minutes Beyond Meat, Inc. has had almost 15 years to build a product lineup that is, as its name claims, beyond meat. By some business metrics, it has. The company, whose market capitalization was pegged at US$1.3 billion when it went public in 2018, recently reported April-to-June 2023 sales of $102 million. That sounds like a […] Read more
COVID-19 isn’t over for white-tailed deer
The virus mutates rapidly in white-tailed deer, but here’s why we don’t need to worry – for now
Reading Time: 3 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – At some point during the pandemic, Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, spread from humans to white-tailed deer in North America. In 2021, scientists revealed that 40 per cent of white-tailed deer sampled in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois and New York state in the U.S. had antibodies for the virus. Surveillance of these […] Read more
Soil biodiversity deserves protection
Reading Time: 3 minutes Soil is the most biodiverse habitat on the planet. According to recent research, it’s home to 59 per cent of all life on Earth, from an insect feeding on the soil surface to a tiny microbe nestled in a soil pore. The same paper estimates that around two million species of arthropod (think insects and […] Read more
Agrivoltaics are Alberta’s energy silver bullet
It is possible to both foster solar power infrastructure and preserve farmland
Reading Time: 3 minutes The Alberta government recently announced a much-maligned seven-month pause on renewable energy development in the province. While the exact reasons are up for debate, one specific factor has been the desire to investigate ways to make renewable energy, particularly solar, more integrated within the province over the long term. Specifically, there is a real concern […] Read more
Opinion: Cropping with wonky weather
Farmers should have incentives to prepare, such as increasing organic matter
Reading Time: 3 minutes A farmer friend challenged me about what he considered alarming statements related to climate change. He sighed and said “a temperature bump of 1.5 C probably won’t bother me.” There is a difference between climate and weather. For example, the climate in July 2023 was 1.5 C higher on average than pre-industrial (before 1850) average […] Read more
Keep balance in research funding
Declining federal government funding means others must fill in to fill the gap
Reading Time: 3 minutes Many ingredients went into the mix that resulted in the extraordinary success of agriculture in feeding a growing population. There’s the ability of farmers to constantly learn and increase their management skills. There are also vast improvements in technology – mechanical, digital and biological – that have come from researchers in both private companies and […] Read more
How microplastics are making their way into our farmland
Across nine provinces and 22 wastewater treatment plants, the problem was universal
Reading Time: 2 minutes Microplastic pollution is a global environmental problem that is ubiquitous in all environments, including air, water and soil. Microplastics are readily found in treated wastewater sludge, also known as municipal biosolids, that eventually make their way to our agricultural soils. Our recent investigation of microplastic levels in Canadian municipal biosolids found that a single gram […] Read more
Opinion: War is expensive both on and off the battlefield
Big financial costs, big human costs, but also big agribusiness profits
Reading Time: 2 minutes Union general William T. Sherman once famously said, “War is hell.” However you describe it, war is expensive. For some, it’s extremely profitable, too. Shooting wars aren’t the only type of warfare that are costly, deadly and often without a winner. In January 2022, the International Monetary Fund estimated the total cost of the COVID-19 […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
