Canola commission looking for directors in five regions

Canola commission looking for directors in five regions

Nomination deadline for directors is Oct. 31

Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta Canola Producers Commission is seeking five growers to serve as directors in Regions 1, 4, 7, 10 and 12. Directors serve a three-year term and meet quarterly. The board is guided in its decision-making by five committees comprised of board members: agronomic research; governance and finance; grower relations and extension; government and industry affairs; and market […] Read more

canola filed with cloudy skies

Alberta farmers easing back the canola throttle this year

Production is forecast to drop by eight per cent – 500,000 acres – from last year

Reading Time: 3 minutes With the threat of another drought looming large in farmers’ minds, some Alberta canola acres could be lost to other crops in 2016. During its spring-seeding intentions survey, Alberta producers told StatsCan they intend to grow 5.6 million acres of canola in 2016 — a hefty eight per cent drop from last year’s 6.1 million […] Read more


A record amount of grain was moved through West Coast terminals in the last crop year, but Alberta crop commissions say 
the system still isn’t working properly.

Grain transport problems solved? Not quite

Mandated minimums for grain movement are set to expire this summer — 
but Alberta crop industry leaders say they’re still needed

Reading Time: 5 minutes Canada’s railways moved a record amount of grain for the 2014-15 crop year — but any improvements were mostly thanks to luck, not fixes to the system, say users. “A lot of the same issues that were evident in 2013 and 2014 are still there, but we’ve had a good run based on excellent weather, […] Read more

Cargill’s new facility near Camrose, which opened last summer, is part of the reason why crush is running at record rates.

Canola crush is thundering along at a record rate this year

Crush production records have been falling like flies, 
and both producers and the wider economy are benefiting

Reading Time: 3 minutes This year’s canola crush is on pace to be the highest ever, which is good news for producers. “It’s great for farmers,” said Renn Breitkreutz, vice-chair of the Alberta Canola Producers Commission. “Our product is in demand and we’ve seen significant investment in crush capacity over the past couple of years and now it seems […] Read more


University of Alberta canola breeder Habibur Rahman has been working on double resistance 
for more than a decade.

Double-resistant canola variety now available

But the first variety with ‘multigenic’ resistance is not a silver bullet, experts warn

Reading Time: 2 minutes A new hybrid canola cultivar that offers double resistance to clubroot has been registered and is now available to farmers. Proven Seed PV 580 GC was developed by University of Alberta canola breeder Habibur Rahman and Crop Production Services (CPS). It carries a resistance gene from Mendel, a European winter canola cultivar, and a second […] Read more

FarmSafety seminar

FarmSafe workshops in March

Producers can register by visiting crop commission websites

Reading Time: < 1 minute The Alberta Wheat Commission, Alberta Barley, Alberta Canola Producers Commission and Alberta Pulse Growers Commission will host a series of FarmSafe workshops throughout Alberta this March. The free, one-day workshops will provide training and educational manuals to help farmers develop a complete health and safety management system tailored to their unique operation. “These FarmSafe workshops […] Read more


Canola trial results now online

Canola trial results now online

Online tool offers data by zone, herbicide-tolerance system, yield, maturity, lodging and height

Reading Time: < 1 minute Results are in for the 2015 Canola Performance Trials. Data from the science-based, third-party variety evaluations have been uploaded to the online comparison tool at canolaperformancetrials.ca. A summary booklet is also available for download at the site. The online tool includes interactive maps and the ability to refine searches by season zone, herbicide-tolerance system, yield, […] Read more

Raising awareness about grain entrapment

Raising awareness about grain entrapment

Reading Time: < 1 minute The Alberta Canola Producers Commission and its Prairie counterparts have joined the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association to raise awareness of the threat of grain entrapment. “It is imperative that farm safety remain a top priority for our industry,” said Stuart Holmen, an ACPC director and producer from Paradise Valley. “We all feel strongly that educational […] Read more


Agronomist Dan Orchard had good and bad news for growers at a recent
Alberta Canola Producers meeting.

The clubroot onslaught continues — but there is some hopeful news

Alberta fields are seeing massive numbers of clubroot spores, but new research has found a 90 per cent drop-off after a two-year break

Reading Time: 3 minutes Clubroot’s march through Alberta is relentless and the level of infestation here is 100 times — or even 1,000 times — worse than in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. But there is a bit of good news: Moving to a three-year rotation is more effective than previously believed, says a Canola Council of Canada agronomist. “New work […] Read more

About 200 people gathered at the legislature on Nov. 27 to voice their displeasure with Bill 6. A second demonstration three days later drew 1,000 people and prompted the NDP government to amend the bill to make it clear that workplace safety regulations would only apply to paid employees, not family or neighbours.

Big Blow-Up: Workplace legislation has farmers up in arms

Skimpy consultation and lack of answers upsets Alberta farmers, 
even those who say the status quo wasn’t acceptable

Reading Time: 6 minutes The NDP government said it just wanted to make farms more safe, but instead ignited a firestorm. But faced with massive outrage and demonstrations from farmers and ranchers to Bill 6, the government backtracked and apologized for what it called “miscommunication.” “Myself, MLAs, ministers, and our premier have all heard from farmers and ranchers who […] Read more