Alberta products showcased in Japan

Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta Agriculture and Forestry says a visit to the FOODEX Japan show last month was a success. A delegation from seven companies and organizations walked the show to gather market intelligence and sales leads at the largest food and beverage trade show in the Asia Pacific. Working with Canada Pork International, Canada Beef, and Edmonton […] Read more

Tech companies charting a new food trend

Amazon, Uber, and Google are hoping to make billions 
by becoming middlemen in the food business


Reading Time: 3 minutes Uber Eats is not a giant meal that you serve your teenager. It is a service to deliver food to urban dwellers in a hurry through the Uber system of loosely collected, non-taxi drivers. It is just one of the companies, along with Amazon and Google, that are in the food business. Google in food? […] Read more


Look past farming   — you’re in the food business

Look past farming — you’re in the food business

FarmTech: Pulse leader says improving health and 
the nutrition of people who eat your food 
should be a top priority

Reading Time: 2 minutes Focus on food, not farming. Health is both a huge global issue and a deeply personal matter, and farmers should be focusing on that and nutrition, said Pulse Canada CEO Gordon Bacon. “The variety registration program covers 50 tests to have a variety registered for production — none has to do with nutrition, let alone […] Read more

Want to sell food in Japan?

Application deadline is January 22

Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta value-added food companies interested in the Japan market can send product samples and marketing materials with provincial government officials to FOODEX Japan. The March 8-11 event is the largest food and beverage trade show in the Asia-Pacific, attracting 3,000 companies and 77,000 visitors. As well, companies can apply to join a walking program that […] Read more


Russell Bird and father-in-law Ron Yoneda took on the world — with bacon sushi.

Our bacon ambassador does Alberta proud

Reading Time: 3 minutes Bacon is getting a whole new sizzle on the gourmet scene these days — would you believe chocolate bacon Fudgsicles? — and Russell Bird is making sure Alberta gets its due. The Sherwood Park man represented his country in the bacon category at the World Food Championships in Florida last month and reports things have […] Read more

Shannon and Danny Ruzicka and children Madalynne, Joshua and Molly are only eating local food for a year.

Living large — and eating only local — in a land of bounty

It’s a huge shift to eat only foods produced in Alberta, but the members of 
the Ruzicka family consider themselves ‘so lucky’

Reading Time: 3 minutes In a season where most people spend more, the Ruzicka family is learning to live with less. Shannon and Danny Ruzicka and children Madalynne, Joshua and Molly have been living on local foods since August. “Our experiment is to live off the Albertan land for a year — we live off what we grow, raise […] Read more


Every item of the feast has a great story behind it

When the table is set, give thanks to those who grew and processed 
the food — and all those who played a role in its history


Reading Time: 4 minutes My son gifts me a subscription to a Quebec-based cuisine magazine entitled Ricardo. The last issue had a little sidebar that read, “If you calculate the time elapsed from the moment seeds are sown, the festive meal takes an average of 295 days to land on our tables.” When you think about great meals in […] Read more

Learn the ins and outs of direct marketing

Marketing Made Easy workshop in Calgary on Nov. 5

Reading Time: < 1 minute The Marketing Made Easy workshop takes place Nov. 5 in Calgary and Jan. 20 in Fort Saskatchewan. “This workshop examines selling products at Alberta-approved farmers’ markets and beyond,” said Delores Serafin of Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. “You will learn strategies for creating a lasting first impression, clearly identifying your target clients, and how to make […] Read more


Mike Olson (l), Ray Price (c), and Mike Von Massow (r).

Bridging the producer-consumer divide

There are pros, cons, and frustrations when trying to deal with consumers who want it all when it comes to food


Reading Time: 3 minutes Consumers are watching you like never before. But relax — you can only do so much. That was one key message from a recent panel discussion on how farmers can connect with consumers. The sudden fascination with how food is produced is a “profoundly good thing,” said Mike von Massow, an associate professor at the […] Read more

The world is truly at your fingertips. The online industry in groceries is only one per cent, but that’s $6 billion and it's expected to jump to $60 billion in the next few years.

The world is going online — and that includes the grocery store

Only a small percentage of people currently buy groceries online, 
but the sector is poised for explosive growth

Reading Time: 3 minutes Where do you buy your groceries? The answer to that question is getting more attention these days because more consumers now say they buy online. The growth of e-commerce has stretched beyond books, movies, parts and retro finds and is now filling the food basket. As folks shift to online buys it means an increase […] Read more