Reading Time: 3 minutes The jury is still out on biostimulants. “Hopefully in two or three years, we’ll have a better recommendation and strategy for these things, but right now, it feels like there are more questions than answers,” said Mike Gretzinger, research co-ordinator at Farming Smarter. The recent buzz around biostimulants — a variety of products that boost […] Read more
Marvel or foo-foo dust? No verdict yet on biostimulants
Many products purport to boost plant health and yield but objective evidence needed, says researcher
Alberta stakes its claim as a solar energy power
Vulcan County to be home to country’s largest solar farm as big corporations go green
Reading Time: 2 minutes Vulcan County will soon be home to the country’s largest solar farm — with the world’s largest online retailer buying most of the power from the 465-MW facility. The Travers solar farm, to be built eight kilometres southwest of Lomond, will occupy 3,300 acres of cropland. It will be built by Greengate Power Corporation, a […] Read more
Nestle to shut Ontario foodservice processing plant
Trenton facility to close in mid-2022
Global food processing giant Nestle plans to shut a southeastern Ontario plant and move its work to sites in the U.S., citing a “highly competitive” market. The company announced Thursday it will start to wind down work late this year at the Nestle Professional plant at Trenton, where dehydrated dry-blend and frozen products are made […] Read more
Lytton bridge re-opened but grain movement ‘hit and miss’
B.C. wildfires continue to disrupt Prairie grain movement
Canadian National Railway’s fire-damaged bridge at Lytton, B.C. reopened for traffic Tuesday — but all train movement, including for grain, through British Columbia’s wildfire-ravaged southern Interior, is “hit and miss” and will remain so until the fire risk lessens. “Both (CN and Canadian Pacific Railway) are having troubles because there are so many fires in […] Read more
U.S. Senate Democrats roll out draft bill to legalize weed
Reuters — Three top U.S. Democratic senators on Wednesday unveiled a discussion draft of a bill that aims to legalize cannabis, a move that would allow adult Americans to buy and possess up to 10 ounces of marijuana without facing criminal penalties. The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act floated by Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, […] Read more
New rule on farm transfer tax treatment put off to 2022
Farm groups protest delay
Rule changes passed in a federal bill to standardize tax treatment for sales of family-owned farms and small businesses will be delayed to the start of 2022, to the dismay of several farm groups. Bill C-208, a private member’s bill spearheaded by western Manitoba Conservative MP Larry Maguire with amendments to the federal Income Tax […] Read more
Study finds major gap in Alberta’s valued-added strategy
A supporting cast of contract processors key to developing plant protein-processing sector
Reading Time: 3 minutes A lack of fractionation plants isn’t the only thing holding back development of a plant protein-processing sector in Alberta. Like fractionation, the province is falling behind on toll processors, companies that provide specialty processing and manufacturing for other companies. “We need all that toll processing in Alberta in order to get the secondary and tertiary […] Read more
Prospects for ag research in Alberta still up in the air
New research agency is finding its feet but uncertainty abounds
Reading Time: 5 minutes Alberta’s new research funding body has made some progress over the last six months — but it’s still very much a work in progress. “It’s been a pretty hectic time for them with lots of growing pains, and there’s still lots of room for improvement, but we are getting support and hoping for improvements over […] Read more
CN, CP trains ordered to slow down against fire risk
Ministerial order in effect until Oct. 31
A new federal ministerial order calls for Canada’s big two railways to significantly cut their train speeds in any areas deemed to be at an “extreme” fire risk. “With extreme weather events occurring more severely and frequently in Canada due to climate change, it is important to have an adaptive regulatory system that responds to […] Read more
4-H Alberta gets first elected board
Reading Time: < 1 minute 4-H Alberta has its first elected board after forming last year when three organizations — the 4-H Council of Alberta, the 4-H Foundation of Alberta, and the 4-H section of Alberta Agriculture — joined together. Andy Pittman, who has more than 20 years of 4-H experience and was inducted into the 4-H Hall of Fame […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
