Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta’s four crop commissions have launched a new Farm Sustainability Readiness website tool for farmers considering obtaining sustainability certification. “Companies like Walmart, General Mills, and McDonald’s are looking to source sustainable ingredients to meet the growing expectations from stakeholders to be more responsible for their suppliers’ social, ethical, and environmental practices,” Alberta Wheat said in […] Read more
Website offers sustainability self-assessment
Deadly fish disease continues to spread in Alberta
Whirling disease was first found here in 2016 and has now spread to a fourth watershed
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has declared the North Saskatchewan River watershed infected with whirling disease. The declaration covers all streams, creeks, lakes, and rivers feeding into the North Saskatchewan River and ends at the Saskatchewan border. Earlier declarations of infection have been made for the Bow, Oldman and Red Deer River watersheds. Whirling disease, […] Read more
New chief acclaimed for national cattle producer group
A former president of the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association is the new president of the national cattle producers’ body. David Haywood-Farmer was elected by acclamation as president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association at the group’s annual general meeting last week in Ottawa. Haywood-Farmer, a cow-calf producer at Savona, B.C., about 40 km west of Kamloops, was […] Read more
Goats and beetles used to fight invasive species
Leafy spurge is found across Alberta and its creeping root system makes it very difficult to control
Reading Time: < 1 minute Pull, mow, burn, and spray. These are common ways that Ducks Unlimited Canada manages invasive plant species on projects located on agricultural land. But there’s a new management tool in the mix now being used by the organization. It has started using goats and flea beetles to help combat leafy spurge at its Frank Lake […] Read more
Advance registration now required for obtaining carbon credits
A new rule means producers must register with an aggregator by May 1 to obtain a carbon credit for this crop year
Reading Time: < 1 minute An important change has come to Alberta’s Carbon Offset System. Farmers must be registered with an aggregation company prior to May 1 or they will not be able to claim credits for the 2018 year for the Conservation Cropping protocol, the main offset that farmers currently use. This is a change from previous years, when […] Read more
Alberta’s most abundant tree species under threat
The reasons aren’t known for certain but the widespread loss of poplars has significant implications for farming
Reading Time: 4 minutes Have you noticed that the poplar trees in your yard and in your bush are dying? You’re not alone. Alberta is experiencing a significant dieback of one of its most abundant species, and while some landowners are skeptical of the cause, evidence points to climate change as one possible contributor. A massive poplar dieback is […] Read more
Province announces funding for ag energy projects
Over the next four years, $81 million will be spent for solar systems, low-pressure irrigation, and energy efficiency upgrades
Reading Time: 2 minutes The details are still being worked out, but federal cash for curbing carbon emissions is beginning to flow. Alberta’s provincial government is directing some of its share of Ottawa’s $1-billion Low Carbon Economy Fund towards the agriculture and agri-food sectors. The province says that over the next four years, $81 million will go towards four […] Read more
This ain’t your grandad’s conservation easement
Easements are changing with the times, making it less restrictive for producers to protect their wetlands
Reading Time: 3 minutes Producers can find the right buyers for their marginal lands — if they know where to look. “There is a market out there now for some of these parcels of land that producers might have a hard time off-loading because they’re wet,” said Warren Robb, provincial policy specialist at Ducks Unlimited Canada. And his organization […] Read more
ONE YEAR LATER: Carbon tax eating into bottom line
There’s no overall figure on what the carbon levy cost farmers, but producers say they are feeling the impact
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s hard to put exact numbers on it — but Alberta’s carbon tax is taking its toll, say farmers. And that toll increased at the start of the year, when the carbon tax increased to $30 a tonne — a 50 per cent jump from the initial $20-a-tonne tax implemented a year ago. Read more: […] Read more
Listen to your crops — the plants are talking to each other
They’re also ‘foraging’ for nutrients, deciding where to put their roots, and calling for help when under attack
Reading Time: 3 minutes You might think it’s crazy — but plants talk to each other and act in ways that are similar to animals and humans. “Step away from the idea of plants as factories and start to think of plants as individuals,” biological sciences professor JC Cahill told attendees at the Western Canadian Soil Health and Grazing […] Read more