Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta Agriculture and Forestry has revised its Using Animal Unit Month (AUM) Effectively fact sheet. AUM can be used to calculate suitable stocking rates for pastures under a wide variety of conditions, said forage/beef specialist Karin Lindquist. The fact sheet includes sections on defining the animal unit, determining the AUM, differences in consumption rates, and […] Read more
Help for calculating stocking rate
Province has a library of free books and cds
Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta Agriculture and Forestry’s 2017-18 Agriculture Information Catalogue is now available. The catalogue has more than 600 free and priced books, DVDs, and CD-ROMs on a wide range of agricultural subjects, ranging from crop and livestock production to new ventures and agri-tourism. The catalogue also lists web-based materials, including decision-making tools, online videos, maps, and […] Read more
Plant 2017: It’s all about making the best of a bad situation
It was never going to be good, but crop specialists say this seeding season may not be as bad as feared
Reading Time: 3 minutes To say that last year’s harvest season in Alberta was unusual would be putting it mildly. The exceptionally wet fall resulted in 967,569 unharvested acres reported to Agricultural Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) this past winter, representing millions of dollars in seed and inputs that have yet to be recouped. So the big question this spring […] Read more
The 2017 fire season has begun
Reading Time: < 1 minute The wildfire season begins March 1 and the province is warning Albertans to be extra careful to help prevent wildfires in forested areas. More than 60 per cent of the wildfires last year were caused by human activity. Last year, 1,338 wildfires burned more than 611,000 hectares, including the Horse River wildfire that spread into […] Read more
Don’t let biofouling slow the flow
Three-quarters of wells in some parts of Alberta have biofouling problems
Reading Time: 2 minutes Nothing makes a real estate deal go south faster than the discovery that the water well is no good. Recently Troy Niemans of Titan Water Systems was performing a well test for a real estate transaction and discovered a problem that nearly cancelled the sale. “The sellers had stated that the well produced six gallons […] Read more
You’ve got blackleg in your fields — whether you know it or not
Blackleg was confirmed in 90 per cent of Alberta fields last year and is likely in every field, says expert
Reading Time: 3 minutes You probably already have blackleg in your field. But you just don’t know it. “When we did our survey in 2016, we found blackleg in almost 90 per cent of the fields we looked at,” said Mike Harding, research scientist in plant pathology with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. “If we looked harder, we probably could […] Read more
Drilling down on dairy costs
Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta Agriculture and Forestry is once again offering the Dairy Cost Study program to Alberta producers. The study is similar to the Agri-Profits program but offers business analysis for just the dairying aspect of the farm. This includes total costs, costs per cow, and costs per hectolitre sold. Data is used to create provincial averages, […] Read more
New tool for managing nutrient run-off
Free downloadable tool for assessing phosphorus run-off risk and creating a customized mitigation plan will be available this spring
Reading Time: 3 minutes As more and more farmers, politicians and laypeople are coming to understand, nutrient run-off from farm fields into waterways is a very big deal. When not managed properly, nutrients from fertilizer and manure make their way into creeks, lakes, dugouts, and other water bodies. But a new tool to help mitigate phosphorus run-off risk will […] Read more
Is there a gardener on your Christmas shopping list?
The provincial Ag Department has handbooks on gardening, growing native plants, saskatoons, and weeds
Reading Time: < 1 minute Here are some Alberta Agriculture and Forestry publications for the gardener on your shopping list. Alberta Yards and Gardens ($15 plus GST) — an unbiased look at what grows best in Alberta, including ornamental trees and shrubs, small fruits and berries, flowers, vegetables, herbs and even water plants. Weed Seedling Guide ($10 plus GST) — […] Read more
Province updating survey on beekeeping costs and returns
The four-decade-old survey is periodically updated to give producers benchmark data
Reading Time: < 1 minute The province is conducting its latest survey on the cost of production for beekeeping in Alberta. “The main purpose of the 2016 Beekeeping Cost of Production Survey is to monitor the current costs and returns of beekeeping in Alberta,” said Emmanuel Laate, senior crop economist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. “We have periodically monitored the […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
