The Alberta government’s caucus lead on emergency medical services (EMS) reform has been promoted to handle the agriculture file in a post-election cabinet shuffle. RJ Sigurdson, MLA for the constituency of Highwood, just south of Calgary, was sworn in Friday by Lt.-Gov. Salma Lakhani as Alberta’s new minister of agriculture and irrigation, replacing Nate Horner. […] Read more
Calgary-area MLA named Alberta’s new ag minister
RJ Sigurdson to handle ag file, Horner moves to finance
Crop quality has been a steep, fast downward plunge
Reading Time: 2 minutes The crop report from Alberta Agriculture in late July was — not surprisingly — dismal. But the speed of the deterioration of crop quality was nevertheless noteworthy. “Only 20 per cent of the annual crops (are) good or excellent,” it said in its end-of-July report. “This represents a 17-point drop in the last two weeks […] Read more
Well workshops with a local flavour
Reading Time: < 1 minute With the pandemic sidelining in-person meetings, Working Well workshops are being held online — but with a local element. The workshops provide information for rural property owners on how to manage and maintain their wells. This year, there will be seven online workshops hosted by municipalities during February and March. Each will have experts from […] Read more
Insect specialist Scott Meers retires
Reading Time: < 1 minute The man known as the ‘bug counter’ is stepping down. In an email he wrote to the Alberta Insect Pest Monitoring network newsletter, Scott Meers said that it has been an honour to work in this role, but it is time to move on. He also stated that he has made the decision independent of […] Read more
Wet weather continues, stalling Alberta harvest further
Alberta Crop Report: Conditions as of October 15
Reading Time: 5 minutes Wet weather along with below normal temperatures have been the dominant pattern in Alberta over the past couple of weeks. During the long weekend, large areas in the North East and North West Regions received between 10 to 15 mm of precipitation in the form of either rain or rain and snow mix. For the […] Read more
Seeding in Alberta complete, forage growers struggle with dry weather
Alberta Crop Report: Conditions as of June 11
Reading Time: 3 minutes With the exception of a few feed crops, seeding is essentially finished in Alberta. Producers are actively spraying and scouting fields. Areas of concern vary from smoke and frost in the north to flea beetles and cutworms in other pockets of the province. In the week ending June 11 there were rainfall events providing 15 […] Read more
Major crops in Alberta nearly all seeded, pastures see delayed growth
Alberta Crop Report: Conditions as of May 28
Reading Time: 4 minutes Relatively good weather over the past week has resulted in good seeding progress. As of May 28, provincially about 91 per cent of major crops have been seeded, compared to 72 per cent a week ago and the 5-year average (2014-2018) of 79 per cent. Regionally, seeding progress was most advanced at 95 per cent […] Read more
They’ve upped the bar on the century award
Some farms have shot past the 100-year mark and now qualify for the 125 Year Recognition award
Reading Time: < 1 minute It turns out a century award isn’t long enough for some Alberta operations. So last year, the province came up with a new award to recognize farm families who have continuously owned and actively operated the same land for 125 years or more. Antler Valley Farm, north of Innisfail, received the 125 Year Recognition last […] Read more
PED reaches Alberta — first case of deadly virus confirmed in province
Hog producers warned by pork officials it’s ‘especially critical’ to step up their biosecurity efforts
Reading Time: 3 minutes After years of successfully keeping the deadly PED virus at bay, porcine epidemic diarrhea has been found in Alberta. “The disease was found on Thursday (Jan. 3),” said Javier Bahamon, quality assurance and production manager for Alberta Pork. “It was reported by a private veterinarian to chief provincial offices at Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. Since […] Read more
Alberta harvest nearing completion
CNS Canada – Alberta farmers made significant harvest progress in late-October, with nearly 95 per cent of crops off the field as of Oct. 30, according to the final crop report of the season from Alberta Agriculture. On a crop-by-crop basis, spring wheat was 96.1 per cent harvested, durum 95.4 per cent, barley 95.6 per […] Read more
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