Reading Time: 3 minutes After installing about 100 solar panels on their dairy barn, the Schuurman family has reduced their energy bill by 60 per cent. And they plan to drive it lower still. “My personal conviction is that I want to be sustainable long term — I believe in climate change, and I have an opportunity to change,” […] Read more
Province ups funding for energy efficiency projects on farms
Farm groups welcome additional funding but say ‘work still needs to be done’ to reduce impact of carbon tax
Canada invests in Canadian biomass and composites industries
Federal and provincial governments are investing up to $2.9 million to the Composites Innovation Centre Manitoba for two initiatives. The funds will go towards the development of quality standards and measurement techniques for Canadian biomass, and research into overcoming technology barriers to the adoption of natural fibres in the composites industry, a news release says. […] Read more
Canadian biofuels aren’t a ‘blunder,’ they’re a success story
Well-designed renewable fuel policies can be good for the environment, the economy, and agricultural producers
Reading Time: 3 minutes In an opinion piece published in the previous edition of this paper (Biofuels are one of our greatest environmental blunders), Gwyn Morgan questions the benefits of biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel. Mr. Morgan would have it that biofuels are a “blunder.” In our opinion, biofuels are a home run for the environment and the rural economy. […] Read more
Biofuels are one of our greatest environmental blunders
Proponents of biofuels are simply refusing to count their true environmental cost
Reading Time: 3 minutes Are biofuels really greener than the fossil fuels they displace? In a recent column I pointed out that electric cars are only as green as the fuel used to generate the electricity they consume. For internal-combustion-powered vehicles, much of the focus has been on trying to reduce carbon emissions by adding ethanol to gasoline and […] Read more
Schoepp: What’s a more important sector: oil or agriculture?
Take a comprehensive look at the facts and the answer is obvious
Reading Time: 4 minutes As we drove through the blueberry fields and cranberry bogs in southern B.C., I thought of economic generators. What, I wondered, was a bigger sustainable economic generator to our nation: oil or agriculture? An environmental scan of an industry must include the long-term effects on people and the planet. The structures that we employ for […] Read more
Why does El Niño have such a big impact on our weather?
It’s all about heat and the atmosphere’s aversion to imbalances when it comes to hot and cold
Reading Time: 4 minutes A few weeks ago while waiting for a triathlon to start, a thunderstorm rolled through the region forcing everyone to run for shelter. While listening to people talk during the storm I overheard a weather-related idea or story that I’ve actually been mulling in my head for a while now, but I still haven’t figured […] Read more
Alberta producers tap into energy management program
There have been more than 400 applications in Alberta for the Growing Forward 2 On-Farm Energy Management Program
Reading Time: 2 minutes Across Alberta, agricultural producers are using new ideas and emerging technology to reduce their energy consumption. For greenhouse operators in Alberta’s challenging climate, managing energy costs is an issue of the highest importance. At Broxburn Vegetables, which operates a three-acre greenhouse growing peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers near Lethbridge, owner Paul de Jonge has tried a […] Read more
Canola growers want province to push biodiesel
Effort would create more demand and help with reductions in greenhouse gases
Reading Time: 2 minutes The new provincial government needs to walk the walk — not just talk the talk — on climate change, starting with better support for renewable energy sources, says the general manager of Alberta Canola Producers Commission. “In their election platforms, almost all political parties talk about climate change and greenhouse gas reduction,” said Ward Toma. […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
