It has been heartening for Putintseva to see so much support for Ukrainians in Canada.

From Ukraine to Calgary

Reading Time: 2 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Daryna Putintseva is a Ukrainian digital marketing specialist working for Canadian communications agency WS. Now living in Calgary, she develops media, news content and marketing strategies for a range of clients in both primary agriculture and the food and beverage industry, such as FCL and Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers program. Putintseva came […] Read more

Solar panels can provide shade to plants while harnessing energy, such as in this vineyard in France.

Agrivoltaics are Alberta’s energy silver bullet

It is possible to both foster solar power infrastructure and preserve farmland

Reading Time: 3 minutes The Alberta government recently announced a much-maligned seven-month pause on renewable energy development in the province. While the exact reasons are up for debate, one specific factor has been the desire to investigate ways to make renewable energy, particularly solar, more integrated within the province over the long term. Specifically, there is a real concern […] Read more


Two studies focus on nitrogen management and soil moisture conditions and look at the impact of different rotations.

Second agronomy cluster to receive funds

The Integrated Crop Agronomy Cluster will be publicly backed for another five years

Reading Time: 2 minutes The Integrated Crop Agronomy Cluster will receive more than $7.6 million for its second phase. Funding, which comes from sources including the Western Grains Research Foundation, the Sustainable Canadian Agriculture Partnership and industry partners, will cover a five-year period between April 2023 and March 2028. Projects will tackle everyday agronomic problems faced by farmers, as […] Read more

“There are a huge number of practices to both reduce emissions and increase carbon sequestration...” – Joy Agnew.

The unbalanced carbon equation

Measurement mechanisms lacking, progress difficult to quantify, Alberta experts say

Reading Time: 3 minutes The goals to reduce fertilizer-based emissions by 30 per cent by the end of this decade, and achieve net zero by 2050, have been set.  The target has raised a number of challenges and opportunities for researchers working to support these efforts, including how to calculate an accurate footprint, and what incentives are necessary to […] Read more


Workers repair the roof of a farm building that was damaged by a mortar in the village of Malaya Rohan, in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, April 9, 2022.

Opinion: War is expensive both on and off the battlefield

Big financial costs, big human costs, but also big agribusiness profits

Reading Time: 2 minutes Union general William T. Sherman once famously said, “War is hell.” However you describe it, war is expensive. For some, it’s extremely profitable, too. Shooting wars aren’t the only type of warfare that are costly, deadly and often without a winner. In January 2022, the International Monetary Fund estimated the total cost of the COVID-19 […] Read more

Opinion: Short-sighted decisions lead to prime ag land loss

Opinion: Short-sighted decisions lead to prime ag land loss

It always came down to the same thing: the will of a council that had no will to protect farmland

Reading Time: 3 minutes Iread with great interest Matt McIntosh’s item in a recent edition of the Alberta Farmer Express, “Pressure increases on farmland.” These words in particular had a visceral effect: “Protecting farmland and natural landscapes, and thus Canada’s ability to produce food in an unstable world, requires co-operation and long-term thinking.” Also, “the problem, according to CAPI, […] Read more


This graphic shows the average global temperature from July 1-23 from 1940-2023. July 2023 is on pace to be the hottest July on record globally.

Heat waves: sunshine and sinking air

Temperatures above 30 C have cropped up a lot this year, but what makes up an official heat wave?

Reading Time: 3 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Let’s continue our look at severe summer weather by examining heat waves. While we have seen recent hot weather, it pales in comparison to some of the extreme heat reported in other parts of our planet this July. Heat waves have enveloped large portions of the Northern Hemisphere, bringing record-breaking heat to […] Read more

The logo and trading info for Corteva Agriscience displayed on the New York Stock Exchange in New York.  Photo: Reuters/Brendan McDermid

Corteva cuts sales forecast on weak demand for crop protection products

Net seed sales rose eight per cent from a year ago, aided by strong prices and increased corn acres

Reuters – Agricultural chemical and seed company Corteva CTVA.N cut its annual sales expectations as demand for its crop protection products showed signs of contraction. Rise in carrying cost of stock for distributors driven by higher interest rates and improved product availability have taken a toll on demand for crop protection products such as herbicide […] Read more


(Omersukrugoksu/iStock/Getty Images)

Russia strikes Ukraine’s Danube port, sending global grain prices higher

Port hit on Danube opposite NATO-member Romania; Kyiv says aim is to intimidate shippers considering return

Kyiv | Reuters – Russia attacked Ukraine’s main inland port across the Danube River from Romania on Wednesday, sending global food prices higher as it ramps up its use of force to prevent Ukraine from exporting grain. The attacks destroyed buildings in the port of Izmail and halted ships in their tracks as they prepared […] Read more

Thunderstorms are a fact of life in Alberta, but severity is due to a combination of factors.

The ingredients for a severe summer storm

Air temperature and movement determine whether it will be a storm to remember

Reading Time: 3 minutes What turns a regular thunderstorm into a severe thunderstorm, or occasionally, into a thunderstorm that you truly remember? First, there is a hot humid air mass in place, the air a few thousand feet up is very cold, providing for good lift, and there is a strong jet stream overhead to provide venting at the […] Read more