The Bob Creek Ranch is an important piece of land along Highway 22. It is home to many species at risk, and has varied terrain. The Waldron Grazing Co-operative and the Nature Conservancy of Canada are working together to place the land under a conservation easement.

Saving southern Alberta’s Bob Creek Ranch

Bob Creek Ranch around the Cowboy Trail in process of being conserved by the Waldron Grazing Co-op and the Nature Conservancy of Canada

Reading Time: 4 minutes The Waldron Grazing Co-op and the Nature Conservancy of Canada are working towards the conservation of the Bob Creek Ranch around the Cowboy Trail in southern Alberta.

Jason Cardinal talks market gardens and tech to attendees of the Indigenous Ag Summit at Canadian Western Agribition in Regina. (Lisa Guenther photo)

At Agribition: Northern community integrates tech, education into market garden

Flying Dust working to improve operation's food distribution

Riverside Market Garden, operated by Flying Dust First Nation, started in 2009 with two people and an old alfalfa field. Today it employs about 20 people, plus summer students; provides food for the community and some wholesalers; and gives youth a chance to learn about agriculture. Over the years the First Nation, just north of […] Read more


P.E.I. Ag Minister Bloyce Thompson speaks at a press conference in 2021. (Government of P.E.I. video screengrab via Facebook Live)

Thompson returns as P.E.I. ag minister

Ag and land ministry split; Compton not returning to cabinet

Prince Edward Island’s former agriculture minister is again its current ag minister, in a post-election cabinet shuffle by returning Premier Dennis King. Bloyce Thompson, MLA for the district of Stanhope-Marshfield since 2019 and ag minister from 2019 until last summer, was again appointed April 14 as King’s minister of agriculture, justice and public safety and […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

U.S. appeals court rules for environmental groups in biofuel case

New York | Reuters — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled on Friday in favour of environmental groups who argued against the U.S. government’s conclusion that biofuel blending obligations posed no danger to species’ habitats. The Environmental Protection Agency decides on the amount of biofuels that oil refiners must […] Read more


Tighter regulations take effect for B.C. farmland reserve

Tighter regulations take effect for B.C. farmland reserve

Local governments' expanded role to take effect this fall

New regulations governing how — or if — changes can be made to land’s status within British Columbia’s Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) are now in force, but local governments get more prep time for their expanded role. The province on Thursday announced amendments to the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) Act — having received royal assent […] Read more

ipcc

UN report on livestock and climate change gets lost in translation

Panel of climate change experts say meat production must be sustainable — but few noted that distinction

Reading Time: 3 minutes “Eat less meat” was the phrase of choice for describing a new report from the United Nations’ climate change panel. Those three words appeared in headlines in publications such as Time magazine, the National Post, and the Times of London. But the report itself said something different, said the science director of the Beef Cattle […] Read more


A queen bumblebee collects floral resources for her nest.

Environmental threats put bumblebee queens under pressure

Insecticide exposure and declining floral diversity are jeopardizing key pollinator group

Reading Time: < 1 minute Spring is a busy time for bumblebee queens. After emerging from hibernation, their to-do list includes making nests, laying eggs, and keeping their larvae warm and fed. It’s physiologically demanding, and the stakes are high: the success of the colony depends on a queen. In a recent study, researchers at the University of California Riverside […] Read more

There may be slim pickins in the pasture

There may be slim pickins in the pasture

Water-stressed forages have more fibre and less protein, and that can reduce 
feed intake and body conditioning

Reading Time: 2 minutes A hot, dry summer hastened the maturity and dormancy of native and improved pastures in many parts of the province, reducing both quality and digestibility of forages. “Plants do not grow as tall as normal in dry conditions,” said beef and forage specialist Barry Yaremcio. “Fibre levels increase faster and overall energy content of the […] Read more


(OntLA.on.ca)

Ontario to add local weight to land use appeal process

Ontario’s Municipal Board (OMB), which handles appeals of land use planning decisions across the province, is set to be replaced with a new Local Planning Appeal Tribunal. The provincial government announced Tuesday it will introduce legislation “in the coming weeks” to replace the Ontario Municipal Board with the new tribunal, “mandated to give greater weight […] Read more

Preserving wildlife habitat on his Milk River ranch has been a win-win, says John Ross.

Fifteen years later, conservation program is an overnight sensation

Almost no one wanted to sign up for the wildlife habitat restoration 
project when it started, but now there’s a waiting list

Reading Time: 4 minutes John Ross was the first rancher to sign on to the MULTISAR (Multiple Species At Risk) program 15 years ago, when no one else wanted to sign up to the conservation initiative. Now, there’s a waiting list of ranchers signed up to make their grazing land more suitable for wildlife and native species. “We worked […] Read more