Reading Time: < 1 minute Don Shepert of St. Brides is the new chair of Alberta Pulse Growers while Robert Semeniuk of Smoky Lake is the new vice-chair and Jerome Isaac of Crooked Creek is the third executive member of the board. New directors are Semeniuk in Zone 5 and Kelisha Archer of Drumheller in Zone 2, who were each […] Read more
Shepert and Semeniuk to head up pulse board
Erin Gowriluk new executive director of Grain Growers
Reading Time: < 1 minute Erin Gowriluk is the new executive director of the Grain Growers of Canada. Gowriluk has an extensive background in agriculture policy. She most recently worked for Syngenta Canada and prior to that was the policy analyst for Alberta Wheat and Alberta Barley. She also has worked for Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. “A strong leader, […] Read more
Crop Commissions fund pulse, canola research
Reading Time: < 1 minute Pulse and canola research is getting a boost from Alberta. Alberta Pulse Growers is putting $2.4 million into Pulse Science Cluster projects, a collaborative effort of the three Prairie commissions, their Ontario counterpart, and Pulse Canada. Among the projects are disease resistance in early-maturing bean lines for Alberta; genetically improved field pea varieties and germplasm; […] Read more
Profitable Pulses: Don’t hesitate — inoculate, says pulse expert
Applying inoculant is an inexpensive — and essential — way to make sure pulse crops fix nitrogen
Reading Time: 3 minutes Thinking of saving a few bucks by not inoculating your pulse crops? Don’t, says a pulse research agrologist. Most growers recognize the benefits of rhizobium inoculant (the bacteria present in both soil and commercial inoculant) in fixing all-important nitrogen in the soil. However, when it comes to cost cutting, some may be tempted to forgo […] Read more
Those who serve make a difference — for you and other farmers
Serving on a farm group’s board won’t earn you a medal, but the work benefits the ag sector
Reading Time: 3 minutes For Allison and Mike Ammeter, being a farmer goes far beyond actual farm work. “Farming is a whole lot more than putting seed in the ground and harvesting it,” said Allison Ammeter, who farms alongside her husband near Sylvan Lake. “A lot of it is looking at the really big picture — provincially, nationally, and […] Read more
Dry bean breeder wins Alberta Pulse Industry Innovator Award
Reading Time: < 1 minute Hans-Henning Muendel is the winner of the fourth annual Alberta Pulse Industry Innovator Award. “Dr. Muendel dedicated his career to developing the dry bean cultivars that now set the standard for small red, black, pinto, and great northern cultivars in Western Canada,” said D’Arcy Hilgartner, chair of Alberta Pulse Growers. In 1996, there weren’t any […] Read more
Scaling up: How to take small-size research from plot to field
Many farmers are skeptical of small-plot research results, but proper protocols are needed to scale up to a field level
Reading Time: 3 minutes Farmers are making some pretty big decisions off test strips — and that scares JP Pettyjohn. “We could flip a coin and pretty much come up with the same answer,” said Pettyjohn, a crop technology instructor at Lakeland College. “I don’t want an answer. I want the right answer.” Small-plot trials have been widely used […] Read more
Seed growers get access to CDC pulses
Reading Time: < 1 minute A new licensing system gives Alberta growers access to new CDC pulse varieties, but raises seed costs. In early 2016, Alberta Pulse Growers pulled its research funding from the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre (CDC), prompting concerns from Alberta Seed Growers members about access to new varieties. However, they now have access again. Saskatchewan […] Read more
Pulse levy may be rolled back
Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta Pulse Growers is considering cutting its checkoff to 0.75 per cent from the current rate of one per cent. If approved by its members at its AGM next month, the service fee levied on sales of pulses would go into effect on Aug. 1 (the start of the next crop year). The one per […] Read more
Feds backpedal on plans to scrap cash ticket deferral system
The federal government has changed its tune on cash ticket deferrals
Reading Time: 4 minutes Dean Gallimore breathed a big sigh of relief when he learned that the federal government had scrapped its plans to eliminate the cash ticket deferral system. “This is a relief in a big way,” said the chartered accountant. “I was very concerned that they were going to scrap the system. Farmers could deal with that, […] Read more
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