Reading Time: 4 minutes Sometimes, the ‘little guys’ do win big, by hard work and commitment. This time, at the Royal Winter fair in Toronto in November, a 41-year-old second-generation Alberta dairyman was awarded the biggest showmanship prize among Canada’s dairymen – and it is named in honor of a former Alberta dairy. At the national show the 2023 […] Read more
Alberta dairyman earns national award
Markus Hehli tipped for Curtis Clark Achievement Award in late 2023
Challenges and rewards greet Alberta craft maltsters
Value-added ventures beckon families back to the farm
Reading Time: 4 minutes At the end of a recent forum on craft malting, podcaster Don Tse asked his guests a surprising question: “Are you happy with your business decisions?” For three rural Albertans involved in the burgeoning industry, the consensus was “yes, but.” Yes, they’re happy with their choice, but anyone hoping to do the same had better […] Read more
Farming was always the dream — and then it became the reality
Reading Time: 3 minutes The joke when Dylan Robinson was growing up was that he chose farming as a career even as a newborn. “I was born in late August, so my grandfather couldn’t come to see me because he was swathing,” said the Fort Saskatchewan native. “So the first place I ended up going to was the swather. […] Read more
New enterprise blooms on former grain farm and tree nursery
Reading Time: 3 minutes After grain farming and tree farming, Ron and Debbie Cherdarchuk and son Cory Christopher turned to flower farming. And guess how popular you are these days when you have a landscape full of flowers that you’re willing to share? “The internet, and in particular Pinterest, have created digital envy,” said Cory (who uses Christopher for […] Read more
Diversity more than a buzzword at Alberta’s agricultural colleges
Reading Time: 5 minutes Alberta’s ag colleges are growing the next crop of industry workers — and they’re trying to make that workforce more inclusive and diverse. “In the ag sector, we’re in a lot of international markets, and being able to deal with all sorts of different people in all sorts of different situations is going to become […] Read more
Life on the ranch during COVID-19
Reading Time: 4 minutes The COVID pandemic has altered our semi-retirement plans. Many of our retired friends and family are trying to find meaningful ways of spending their time. Some are relieved that they will be able to golf in a socially distanced way. Here on the ranch we’re not searching for meaning. We seem to be filling important […] Read more
A virtual farm walk spreads joy far and wide
Reading Time: 3 minutes A little project that started as a way for a family farm to communicate with friends and relatives has become a way to showcase agriculture to the world. Charlotte Wasylik of Chatsworth Farm near Vermilion, made a livestream video tour of her family farm on Facebook Live near the end of March. “We were originally […] Read more
A very modern farm based on old ways of collaborating
Reading Time: 3 minutes Change is an interesting thing. It takes time but with momentum can happen quickly,” said Ian Griebel of Redtail Farms as he reflected on the last few years since he and wife Dana Blume took over his parents’ operation. Kathleen Charpentier and Richard Griebel started marketing directly from the farm, near Castor, in the mid-’90s […] Read more
PHOTOS: People who make a difference and enrich us all
Reading Time: < 1 minute This section of our website is called Heartland but it could be called Snapshots — for it is only able to offer glimpses of a few of the people who enrich the province’s farm community. Some devote their time and energy to raise funds for a good cause in their hometown or communities on the […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
