Reading Time: 4 minutes Teri Heck is on a mission to rid the world of bad coffee. “I grew up on the farm where we had terrible water and even worse coffee,” said the owner of Profound Coffee, a micro-roaster in Cremona. “Life is just too short to drink bad coffee.” Heck was always a double-double girl in the […] Read more
Wake up and smell the micro-roasted coffee
Alberta village is on the cutting edge of the ‘third wave’ coffee movement thanks to Profound Coffee
Three tips for brewing your best cup of coffee yet
Reading Time: < 1 minute There’s an art to brewing the perfect cup of coffee, and Teri Heck has perfected it. “It’s such an important part of most people’s day, but people don’t really take the time to figure out how to make it properly,” said the owner of Profound Coffee. “There are some simple tricks and tips to get […] Read more
Don’t jump to conclusions when cattle come up lame
Bee 911: Just assuming it is foot rot can be a mistake as there are many different conditions — and types of treatment
Reading Time: 4 minutes There are many different causes of lameness in both the cow-calf and finishing sector of the cattle industry. Making the correct diagnosis or recognizing specific clinical entities will alter specific treatments that are given. This article will review most common lameness issues and what common solutions are available. This may help you get more favourable […] Read more
Watch out for yourself in solar land
Reading Time: 4 minutes If you’re looking for a solar contractor, there’s no shortage of them. And that can be a problem. Thanks in part to large-scale incentives by the provincial government to boost use of solar energy, the number of solar photovoltaic (PV) installers has doubled over the past two years — 223 are listed on the Solar […] Read more
The sun still shines on solar energy in rural Alberta
Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s been two years since the provincial government announced its plan to power 30 per cent of Alberta’s electrical grid with renewables by 2030, along with a $5-million commitment to help rural Alberta connect to the solar grid. There’s been good take-up by producers, says the executive director of the Solar Energy Society of Alberta, […] Read more
Quick steps to better energy efficiency
Energy expert offers some ‘low-hanging fruit’ that can help producers save money on their power or fuel bill
Reading Time: 3 minutes Maximizing energy efficiency on farms and ranches saves money, and who likes to spend money when they don’t have to? But there are only so many hours in the day and only so many dollars for these sorts of projects. So the real question for many farmers is: Where to start? What are the ‘low-hanging […] Read more
Educate your kids about the dangers of PTOs
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Alberta Farm Safety Program has created a new Power Take Off (PTO) Display that can be borrowed for farm safety or other events. The resource uses different methods — including a “hands-on simulated entanglement scenario” — to educate children and youth about the dangers of rotating PTO shafts, said provincial farm safety youth co-ordinator […] Read more
Farming every acre doesn’t pay when the wind is howling
Producers are being urged to ‘rethink’ shelterbelts and how they preserve moisture and protect soil
Reading Time: 2 minutes Alberta farmers are being urged to “rethink” shelterbelts — and soil conservation experts agree. Zero till hasn’t made shelterbelts obsolete and this year’s dry conditions have shown the value of having something to disrupt the flow of hot winds blowing over fields, said Toso Bozic, Alberta Agriculture’s agro-forestry specialist. “Planting new windbreaks needs to be […] Read more
Millions of Alberta acres have resistant weeds
Kochia and wild oats top a long list of resistant weeds that are now present in Alberta, says crop specialist
Reading Time: 2 minutes When it comes to herbicide resistance, producers should be looking for trouble. The ongoing spread of resistant weeds means producers should be actively scouting for it, said provincial crop specialist Harry Brook. “We now have glyphosate resistance in kochia in southern Alberta and it continues to spread,” said Brook. “These should serve as a wake-up […] Read more
Growing projects putting down roots around elevators
Reading Time: 2 minutes Volunteers at a trio of Canadian Foodgrains Bank growing projects in Alberta won’t have to go far to deliver their harvests this fall. Viterra is providing 400 acres around three of its Alberta grain terminals (and another three in Saskatchewan) for growing projects this year. “We’ve had a long-standing partnership with Viterra,” said John Longhurst, […] Read more
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