Andria Carlyon, manager of GRO and Stacy Murray, extension coordinator for GRO, came up with the idea, and held their first GRO-ing Women in Agriculture event in April 2025.

“Andria and I were talking one day, and we said, we should start something just for women,” said Murray.

“There are an incredible number of women involved in agriculture. More women don’t come from a farm background, so they come into agriculture not knowing what they don’t know, and then they’re somewhat reluctant, maybe, to ask questions in a mixed crowd,” said Murray. “They’re way more relaxed and open if they’re in a group of just women, or at least, that’s our experience,” she said.

Carlyon said women are becoming more prevalent in agriculture, as it has been very male dominated.

“Sometimes with society pressures and the history of it all, (women) are not as comfortable saying ‘I am a farmer,’ or ‘I work in agriculture’ and they’re pressured or a bit quieter in mixed groups,” she said.

“This way, it provides a bit of comfort and connection with other people in the ag industry,” said Carlyon.

Women attendees can discover other attendees with common interests or knowledge.

Each session has a different theme.

The first event was focused on light duty mechanics, and a female mechanic taught the participants about cars.

GRO put a vehicle on their lift and the female mechanic explained how to read the side of the tire, so if the decal is worn off the door, people know how to put air in it. She explained how to torque the tires, as many of the women live on farms with a shop with a torque wrench.

“She went through some basic stuff, like how to change a windshield wiper blade. Lots of women are very capable and know that,” said Murray.

But there are some women who don’t know, and who feel more comfortable asking questions if it’s a group of women.

Every event features a supper, and children are allowed to attend, so women don’t have to worry about childcare.

“That’s because part of networking and socializing and being comfortable, we tend to do that over a meal,” said Murray.

The women are also asked to contribute some of their knowledge at each event. The first event’s tip asked the women their shortcuts on a busy evening, when they have little time to eat, but must prepare a meal for a family, while the second asked attendees to bring their favourite crockpot recipe.

The second event was held August 19, and the theme was testing. Three women experts showed ways to test soil, feed and seed. About 19 women attended the event, and only three of them had attended the first event.

Katelyn Miller, sales consultant with AgroTek360, demonstrated and discussed soil tests.

Miller stressed using the same lab for soil tests. “I don’t care what that lab is, whatever you pick. If you send that soil sample to five different labs, you’re likely to find five separate results,” she said.

Different data points will be generated if multiple labs are used, she said.

Miller said when she is soil testing with a probe, she walks the field in a “W” pattern.

“I try to get an even representation of the field,” she said. Miller pulls anywhere up to 50 samples in the field to try.

Many farmers know the trouble spots in their fields, and Miller recommends taking a handful of samples from the trouble spot.

She demonstrated how to collect soil using GRO’s truck, which contained a hydraulic probe.

“Soil testing is so variable,” she said.

If you’ve got all these samples as a producer, combining them all together is not giving you a true tale of what’s in the field, said Miller.

Murray demonstrated how to use a penetrometer, which measures soil compaction.

“We generally measure how deep we can go before we hit 300,” she said. “Nine to 12 inches is the average of what we’ve found here.”

Women were invited to try out the probe and the penetrometer and examine cores and samples.

Sarah Elliott, a dairy nutritionist and consultant with Cargill, demonstrated how to probe a bale using a drill.

Sarah Foster, the third speaker of the event, is the founder, president and senior seed analyst of 20/20 Seed Labs. Her company includes crop inspectors, geneticists, disease diagnosticians and agronomists, among others. Offices are in Winnipeg and Nisku.

When a grower or seed distributor brings a sample to 20/20 Seed Labs, the team verifies the crop guide, variety, crop certificate, lot number and all required tests such as germination.

Foster said being a seed analyst appeals to a lot of women.

“We can do detailed stuff. We’re very nimble. That is a big part of the job. There isn’t anything in the tech world yet that has been able to replace us, and they’re working on it,” she said.

Her team includes 35 people, including 26 women and nine men. 20/20 also has a lab in Chile, and some team members go to Chile in January to spend three months working with a Chilean agronomist.

The third event is tentatively planned for October and will be about bookkeeping, taxes and accounting. The event will be a workshop, and women are encouraged to bring their own books. The fourth session will take place in January 2026 and will have a focus on calving and lambing.

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Greg and Sarah Stamp of Enchant, Alberta and Brad and Travis Hopcott of Pitt Meadows, B.C. were chosen from seven regional farmers at the event, held in Laval, Quebec November 22 to 26.

“Every year the regional finalists challenge the judges like never before,” said Danny Penner, COYF president, in a news release.

“The future of agriculture is in good hands as long as young farmers like the ones that gathered at the COYF national program in Laval are involved. They all showcased incredible operations. 

“Greg and Sarah Stamp of Stamp Seeds and Travis and Brad Hopcott of Hopcott Farms will be exceptional ambassadors for Canadian agriculture.”

Celebrating 43 years, the COYF program is an annual competition to recognize farmers 18 to 39 years of age who show excellence in their profession. Glacier FarmMedia — the publisher of this website — is a media partner of the program. 

What began as a partnership with Greg Stamp’s parents in 2006 has become three separate operations run by Greg and his brothers Nathan and Matthew. The operations include Stamp Seeds (retail pedigreed seed), Stamp Farms (production of pedigreed seed for retail and contracts) and Flourish Farms (cropland). 

Pedigreed seed is produced on 7,000 acres, of which 5,000 acres is under irrigation and 2,000 acres are farmed on dryland. Growing contract seed for others allowed Greg to expand the retail seed business and build a customer base. 

The Stamp brothers use management zones and benchmark soil sampling to better manage fertility. On-farm field days, newsletters and social media are used to build awareness of the varieties produced. 

“Sarah has been instrumental in developing management and succession plans to allow all the families to farm together,” reads a COYF news release.

What began as a dairy farm started by Brad and Travis Hopcott’s grandfather is now a 1,000-head beef feedlot with forage production, on-farm abattoir, 72-acre cranberry farm and a 17,000 square foot retail store and wedding venue. 

Brad is in charge of the beef side. Travis is in charge of cranberries and their sister Jennifer runs the retail and wedding venue. 

The Hopcotts recently renovated 20 per cent of their cranberry acres, introducing new varieties in order to double production. A water reservoir system allows 30 million gallons of water to be recycled in the cranberry bogs during the harvest season. 

A $5 million abbatoir was added in 2022 for full integration of the beef operation. Utilizing waste tissue composting units allows for the integration of animal waste back into the forage fields. 

“Having received support through the management transition, Brad and Travis hope to return the favour and mentor future B.C. farmers,” reads the release.

The winners were chosen from seven regional finalists, including the following from the other five regions: Rémi Taillon and Sophie Brodeur of Sainte-Dominque, Quebec; Stewart Skinner and Jessica Kelly of Listowel, Ontario; Jake and Sarah Leguee of Weyburn, Saskatchewan; Harley and Brooklyn Siemens of Rosenort, Manitoba and Marijke Oudshoorn and Willem van de Wetering of Morell, Prince Edward Island.

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“The Agri-Food Hub & Trade Centre will drive tourism to our city, create opportunities for local businesses, give a place for the agriculture and agri-food industries to highlight their value and become a centrepiece for our community to come together,” said Mike Warkentin, Lethbridge & District Exhibition CEO.

“The possibilities presented by this facility are endless.”

More than 1,600 tonnes of steel and 10,000 square feet of glass panels were used in the building, which also has a unique engineered concrete floor system in its trade halls. A “revolutionary” technique pre-stresses steel fibres to create a 110-millimetre-thick concrete floor “as strong as a conventionally reinforced 200-millimetre-thick floor,” Lethbridge & District Exhibition said in a release.

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They also note a wide range of operations have been part of the event, which takes place on Aug. 19-20 this year. There are a number of resources for producers thinking of participating in the Host Farms section of albertaopenfarmdays.ca.

This includes a short video on whether the event is a fit for your farm, a questionnaire to assess if your operation is ready to receive visitors, and an online registration form (officials contact registrants and provide more information).

The registration deadline is April 30.

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“Generally what we’ve heard is that 2022 went very, very well,” said Tim Carson, CEO of the Alberta Association of Agricultural Societies.

“There was some excellent programming provided by agricultural societies in their local communities that were very well attended. (People) were willing to get out there and get started again.”

However, the pandemic resulted in a loss of volunteers. Many got used to staying home or found other things to do, said Carson.

“They often have a core group that organizes the events, but the number of volunteers who are available to assist in actually executing the event is definitely a challenge,” he said.

Still, many ag societies are thriving, he said, and that’s the case for the Rimbey Agricultural Society.

Attendance, volunteer numbers and sponsorship were all strong last year, said office manager Jill Moore.

A key for her ag society has been ensuring there are strong bonds to the community and avoiding the temptation to become overly reliant on the same few people, said Moore, who is also a former president of the society.

“We’ve made sure to expand our volunteer base outside of our board. It’s really easy to just lean on your board all the time and then you’re so burned out and everybody sees you like that so then they don’t want to help.”

A big part of building that volunteer base is expressing gratitude for everything people do, be it a little or a lot.

“If people come once every two months and help out, then we’re super thankful. There’s no pressure. That’s a key part to it,” said Moore.

Keeping things fun is also a must.

“When things have gotten stressful or high pressure, we just have to remember to keep having fun because that’s what brings the volunteers on.”

Over the years, there have been plenty of bumps in the road.

One was in 2014, when a recession hit just as the society built the 60,000-square-foot Co-operators Agrim Centre, its multipurpose event hub.

“It was a bit of a struggle for a couple of years to be able to make ends meet,” said Moore.

COVID delivered another blow.

After two years of limited activity, it wasn’t clear whether the society could count on the same level of community support as before the pandemic. Nevertheless, it opted to bid on hosting the Alberta Junior High School Rodeo Finals and it was a little nerve-wracking when its bid was successful.

“It was a huge learning curve for us to take on an event of that size,” said Moore. “It was a $100,000 budget, a lot of moving parts with a banquet and prizes, and our first kick at the cat obtaining a substantial amount of sponsorship money for an event.”

But the gamble paid off in spades.

“We pretty much nailed it. We kind of wowed people. We knew that if we didn’t work really, really hard it would be a disorganized event and it would reflect on us.”

It didn’t end there. After two years of being largely housebound, people of the central Alberta town of 2,600 and surrounding area were hungry for the kind of entertainment an ag society offers.

“We had one rodeo in a storm in February and there was a long line out the door. We could hardly keep up,” said Moore. “It was really profitable but it was almost comically exhausting. It was very, very exciting to actually see revenue come in after such a time of stagnant operations where we couldn’t hold events.

“And just the morale increase — the community felt like a community again. It was amazing.”

These days, the doors of the Agrim Centre rarely stay closed for long.

There’s almost always something going on, be it monthly rodeos, weekly roughstock and team roping practice, barrel racing competitions or steer and bull riding schools.

And those are just the events the society itself puts on. The centre is frequently rented by private groups holding their own activities.

“We have an event called Snow Days each winter in January where we have a cutter rally where people ride behind horses on little sleighs,” said Moore. “It has demonstrations and vendor booths and a chili cookoff — kind of an old school kind of event.”

The society will again host Alberta Junior High School Rodeo Finals along with the Alberta Dairy Congress and, in the spirit of challenging themselves, it’s also hosting a two-week motocross event in early February.

“It’s a huge learning curve for us but we actually enjoy that kind of challenge.”

There are nearly 300 ag societies in the province and there were fears early in the pandemic that it would cripple many of them.

But ag societies have the ability to bring communities together, and that’s powerful, said Moore.

“The experiences I’ve had with this organization and the people I’ve met — it’s been quite life-changing. Even though we have quite a lot of staff, the volunteerism is still alive and well in larger capacities than it was before.”

That’s remarkable when a lot of volunteer-driven organizations are struggling, she said.

“It’s being lost because the world is getting so commercialized. People want to go pay for something and leave,” she said.

“To teach your kids and your family about stepping in and helping rather than just expecting services is just something that ties people together. I know that sounds clichéd but it’s really true.”

The post Province’s ag societies bounce back in a big way appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“This is one way delegates can be sure they get every bit of information from these industry leading presenters,” said Ashley Steeple, coordinator of the event.

Going back to an in-person event is being welcomed by participants, she added.

“The past few years have dramatically cut into the opportunity to be together as an industry. We are already seeing strong hotel bookings and related events being planned around the seminar week.”

The conference is a joint effort of the ag department at the University of Alberta, the provincial ag ministry and Alberta Pork.

For more information visit banffpork.ca.

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“With the recent announcement made by the Alberta government’s ongoing work to protect Albertans from COVID-19 and the possibility of increased cases and transmissions this winter, we made the difficult decision to postpone FarmTech 2022,” said Janine Paly, chair of the FarmTech Foundation that puts on the event with the four big crop commissions.

Organizers had planned to have a hybrid event with a virtual component to accompany the in-person event, which had been expected to attract 1,000 attendees.

Concern about yet another spike in COVID cases has also prompted Agronomy Update to scrap its in-person event in favour of a virtual one.

Visit the Events page at albertacanola.com for details on Agronomy Update 2022.

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“One of the things people are most looking forward to is getting to gather and see people face to face as opposed to over a Zoom call,” said Megan Evans, marketing and events manager for Alberta Wheat and Alberta Barley.

“The rural landscape can be very isolating, and when we can’t have these gatherings, it can feel even more isolating.”

“With COVID the way it was, everything got shut down again (last winter), so we were forced to stay strictly online,” added Farming Smarter assistant manager Jamie Puchinger.

“But the one thing we saw last year when we were able to hold events is that people are desperate for that networking opportunity.”

Bookended by the return of Agri-Trade this month and FarmTech in late January, producers can expect a full slate of regional meetings and other conferences.

Alberta Wheat and Barley is hosting six in-person regional meetings, four with Alberta Pulse Growers, across the province (with virtual options available) with each featuring speakers presenting up-to-date agronomic information.

“Every year is different, and the more tools and knowledge farmers have, the better able they are to adjust on the fly,” said Brian Kennedy, grower relations and extension manager at Alberta Wheat and Alberta Barley.

“We like to put a focus on the agronomic topics for the specific region that the meeting is in, so the updates and agronomic information will be tailored to farmers in that region.”

Alberta Canola will also be hosting meetings, but instead of a dozen smaller meetings in each region, there will be four more centralized in-person meetings (and a virtual one on Jan. 6) with the focus on grower engagement.

“One of the things that most of us as directors noticed was that when we first started… we had absolutely no idea of how many things Alberta Canola was involved in behind the scenes,” said vice-chair Roger Chevraux.

“So now we’re going to try to focus more on what Alberta Canola is doing for producers and where their checkoff dollars are going.”

The goal is to have a two-way conversation so producers feel more engaged in the commission, he said.

“It’s a golden opportunity for them to express concerns or to point out issues that perhaps the board of directors have missed,” said Chevraux.

Farming Smarter is also using the virtual option to do things differently.

“The beginning of December is super popular for lots of events, so instead of trying to compete, we’re just going to move our conference to February,” said Puchinger.

But it will also have a pre-Christmas virtual event on Dec. 15 — on global crop production featuring presenters from England, Scotland, Malawi, New Zealand, and Australia on innovations that could be brought into southern Alberta.

“That was my goal — to try and find new and different ideas and people that we haven’t heard from before,” said Puchinger.

The conference and trade show on Feb. 16 will focus on the research being conducted at Farming Smarter with “lots of good results” to be presented, she said.

Another December event, the Prairie Cereals Summit, will be held entirely in person (aside from the Alberta Barley AGM, which will have a virtual option) on Dec. 8-9 in Banff.

In addition to sessions on agronomy, marketing, and technology, the event will also focus on diversity and inclusion, including something called ‘allyship’ — a term that refers to a mainstream organization emphasizing social justice, inclusion, and human rights as a way to help marginalized or oppressed groups.

“We have a diversity and inclusion activist who’s going to be talking about harvesting allyship and what proper allyship looks like,” said Evans.

The evening entertainment will feature Harnarayan Singh, host of the Punjabi-language broadcast of Hockey Night in Canada, who will share his experiences growing up as a person of colour in rural Alberta.

All the host facilities are following the Restriction Exemption Program, attendees will need either proof of vaccination, a valid medical exemption, or a current negative COVID test.

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This year, though, they’re covering that ground on the information superhighway instead.

“Normally as a farmer, I’m attending events in the summer and wintertime, and this year, I didn’t get to experience that,” said Janine Paly, who farms near Thorhild.

“Every year, I think it’s so exhausting. But this year, I missed it.”

Before COVID-19, getting info on new research, agronomy, and marketing meant going to conferences, crop tours, and regional meetings. Now it’s doing tours over Zoom and watching conferences from the comfort of their couch.

But it’s not the same.

“It was really hard to stay on top of learning because all of these events weren’t happening,” said Nathan Stamp, farm operations manager at Stamp Seeds near Enchant. “It was hard to stay up to date on stuff. But now being into the slower season, it’s getting easier.”

It hasn’t been all bad, he added.

Normally at this time of year, Stamp attends the Farming Smarter conference in Lethbridge, but this year’s conference is online — and that gave him a chance to attend an additional virtual conference that same week, this one out of Iowa.

“That was kind of neat. It opens up the window to allow agronomists and farmers to learn all over North America,” said Stamp, who’s on the board of Farming Smarter.

“You don’t have to physically be there. Now you can take in those events virtually. It’s an opportunity to learn something different compared to what you can drive to. It allows that flexibility.”

Online can be ‘exhausting’

Paly is also attending digital learning events, but limiting her screen time to sessions under a couple of hours.

“I’m slowly taking in these digital platforms, but I’m actually tired of that way of transferring knowledge,” said Paly, who is vice-chair of Gateway Research Organization. “It’s exhausting taking in a full-day conference or even a webinar. So I’m definitely limiting what I’m taking in and really trying to focus on the types of learning opportunities that I want to focus on.”

That’s mostly webinars put on by producer commissions and local applied research associations. The events are usually free for members to attend, and Paly always finds the information “unbiased and extremely informative.”

“These groups are really well known for their extension activities,” she said. “Right now, if you go on to their websites, they’re offering a huge amount of learning and webinars for farmers.

“They offer a wide range of options that farmers can take in — I’ve taken in environmental webinars, financial webinars, agronomy webinars.”

Time is also a factor for farmer Leonard Desharnais — he just doesn’t have enough of it to attend a lot of live virtual events.

“I haven’t done any online development this year. I’ve been invited to some, but I haven’t had time to take part in any so far,” said Desharnais, who farms near Falher.

“What would be nice is if they recorded it and then gave you a chance to watch it later. That would be more convenient.”

Instead, he’s turned to farm-related podcasts.

“Instead of listening to your radio if you’re on the road, you can download them on to your phone and listen to them while you’re on the road,” said Desharnais, vice-chair of SARDA Ag Research. “You’ve got the time to just listen then.”

Lower-tech learning

Desharnais has also been flipping through farm magazines and papers when he has some downtime.

“I get Country Guide and Grainews, and if there are articles I like, I’ll read them more than once,” he said. “If I think there’s some good knowledge I should keep, I’ll try to keep them in a binder or scrapbook so I can go over them again later on.

“It’s nice to read about these things and see how they’ll work for me. I think there’s always room for improvement.”

Paly has also found herself turning to print publications for more of her learning this year.

“With COVID, I’m almost technology drained, so I actually found that I’m reading a lot more,” she said. “Sometimes we’re not really tech savvy, and if that’s not the way you want to learn, publications are another avenue to explore. When it comes in the mail, give it a read. Don’t just put it in the recycling bin.”

Simon Lavoie has another low-tech way of getting the information he needs this year — picking up the phone.

“We’ve been gathering information by calling lots of farmers,” said the St. Isidore producer, who is chair of SARDA. “That’s the best way to keep open communication — talk to your reps in the area, talk to local farmers. Word gets around.”

The telephone offers something digital learning events can’t do as easily: The chance to connect with other farmers and share lessons learned.

“The one thing that’s hard is you don’t get the personal chatting before or after sessions,” said Stamp. “That’s the downside, and a lot of people are missing that these days. In person, you get to meet new people and learn different things from different farmers and agronomists and other people in the industry you normally wouldn’t if you don’t go to events in person.”

‘Keep learning’

Steve Kenyon misses that, too.

“The networking behind those conferences and seminars is where I got most of my education,” said Kenyon, a custom grazer from the Busby area. “You go to the conference, you get a couple of gold nuggets from the presenters, and then you talk to some producers, brainstorm, and get a great idea out of it.

“That’s missing big time this year.”

As a result, Kenyon, who is also a popular speaker, has been hosting a weekly networking event over Zoom through Gateway Research Organization to give people a chance to connect and ask questions — something that’s been missing from the online events he’s attended.

“Every Wednesday night, we’re going to have a different topic and maybe a different guest speaker come in,” said Kenyon, who is also a GRO director. “We’re not going to do any presentations — we’re going to introduce a subject and then we’re just going to open it up for questions. For an hour, we’re just going to answer questions.”

He hopes that will inspire other Alberta farmers to keep building their skills and their networks, even in a year like this one when it’s a little harder.

“It’s important to me to keep learning. You get stagnant if you don’t.”

Paly agrees.

“We always have to keep learning and stay ahead of the game,” she said. “That’s sometimes a challenge as a farmer. We get caught up in our daily activities, but we have to set time aside to learn.”

The post Stuck on the farm doesn’t mean getting stuck in a rut appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The 17-year-old event is one of the country’s largest beef conventions and trade shows. The decision to cancel it “did not come lightly” but the safety of attendees, exhibitors, and sponsors was their paramount concern, organizers said.

“Our 2021 programming will be delivered through a series of smaller business meetings and pop-up virtual experiences throughout the year.”

The 2020 conference, held in early March in Red Deer, took place just as Alberta was reporting its first coronavirus case.

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