The new provincial government plans to allow third-party coverage but for now, the old rules remain in place
Reading Time: 4 minutes For now at least, farm employers still have to have insurance from the Workers Compensation Board of Alberta. But there are benefits that come from WCB coverage, an official with the company told attendees at a recent Alberta Beef Producers meeting. That includes no-fault insurance, said Boris Makale, an insurance specialist with WCB, which is […] Read more
What you need to know about workers’ compensation in Alberta
There’s now a (good) way to deal with grain bags and twine
Reading Time: 3 minutes Many landfills don’t want it and you’re not supposed to burn it — so what do you do with old grain bags and twine? That vexing question led to the creation of the Agricultural Plastics Recycling Group and, now, a $1-million, three-year pilot project that will see about 20 ag plastic recycling depots set up […] Read more
Little things add up: How to trim your fuel bill this growing season
Expert offers his tips — some familiar ones and others you may not have thought of
Reading Time: 5 minutes Forget the old cliché. There are actually three things you can count on in life: Death, taxes, and the inevitability of high fuel costs. It’s difficult to measure how much farmers on average spend on fuel in any given growing season, but they know where it hurts them: In the wallet. “Farmers really don’t get […] Read more
Canadian farmers pull off an energy magic trick
Nearly 30 years of better practices are helping producers consume less energy even as demand is at a peak
Reading Time: 2 minutes Can you use more energy and less energy at the same time? Canadian farmers have managed to pull it off. Mind you, that’s a bit of a misnomer. What Canadian farmers have actually done is chop the amount of energy they consume per dollar of output by 17 per cent over 26 years. Non-intuitively, this […] Read more
Protein supercluster aims to transform food processing in Western Canada
The region can be a world powerhouse in value-added processing, says head of Protein Industries Canada
Reading Time: 3 minutes Protein Industries Canada has a plan to kickstart the growth of the plant-based protein sector in Western Canada over the next four years, says its CEO. “From a processing perspective, this is a growing industry in Canada — we’ve got 7,000 food processors,” Bill Greuel told attendees at the recent Bridge2Food Plant-Based Food Summit. But […] Read more
Ag plastic recycling to start this fall
Reading Time: < 1 minute Cleanfarms has been chosen to operate a three-year pilot program to collect grain bags and twine in Alberta for recycling. In its first year, there will be up to 20 collection sites in operation this fall, said Alberta Beef Producers, which helped to choose the national non-profit organization to run the pilot. ABP and the […] Read more
New provincial government will ‘stick up’ for farmers, says ag minister
Defending modern agriculture, workplace safety, and research funding are top priorities, says Devin Dreeshen
Reading Time: 4 minutes Alberta’s new agriculture minister is ready for a fight. “Standing up for modern Canadian agriculture is something that was a theme during the campaign,” said Devin Dreeshen. “There are elements out there that attack Alberta’s energy sector, modern agriculture, and the forestry industry, and I think it’s something we heard loud and clear during the […] Read more
Summertime is danger time for ticks
Check for ticks on yourself and your pets, say provincial officials
Reading Time: < 1 minute Authorities are warning Albertans to take the time and check for ticks — on themselves and their pets. The threat isn’t tick bites, but the chance a tick could transmit Lyme disease, said the registrar of the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association (ABVMA). “There have been approximately 100 human cases of Lyme disease reported by Albertans […] Read more
What’s in the engine room of your farm business?
It’s not just the physical assets that power your enterprise and keep it moving forward
Reading Time: 3 minutes My friend Claire Booth from Australia shared a photo of her farm office referring to it as the “engine room” of their business. I like that analogy and am conscious of the fact that we all run with an engine and without that source of power or way of moving forward, we stay in one […] Read more
Interest in solar remains strong, but subsidies in doubt
It’s not clear whether the new government will axe subsidies, but producers still drawn to solar workshops
Reading Time: 4 minutes Are provincial subsidies for on-farm grid-tied solar projects dead? And if they are dead, does that mean solar and other renewable energy projects have gone the way of the dodo as well? It would be hard to fault anyone for answering ‘Yes’ to both questions. While on the campaign trail in February, now-premier, Jason Kenney […] Read more