If you had low yields, you may be able to cut back a bit on fertilizer for 2018, but only a soil test will tell you for sure.

Balance your soil nutrient budget this fall through soil testing

Nitrogen prices have reached lows not seen in over a decade

Reading Time: 3 minutes Your soil keeps a budget for nutrients, and how much you will need next year depends on how much you took out this year. “Most of the time when it comes to assessing what soil nutrient levels might be like, typically what you can do is look at your yields,” said provincial crop specialist Mark […] Read more

New Alberta rep on Canadian Pork Council

Reading Time: < 1 minute Dan Majeau is the new Alberta rep on the Canadian Pork Council, a federation of nine provincial pork industry associations representing 7,000 farms. Among the council’s priority issues are pushing Ottawa to take a leadership role in completing Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations. The organization has also been working the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to resolve issues […] Read more


Fund set up for family of James Hargrave

Reading Time: < 1 minute A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the family of rancher James Hargrave, who died in a vehicle crash while helping to fight wildfires along the Alberta/Saskatchewan border. Hargrave, 34, was chairman of the Alberta Grazing Leaseholders Association and first vice-president of the Western Stock Growers Association. The Walsh-area rancher “was community minded […] Read more

Agricultural biomass in the spotlight

Reading Time: < 1 minute Using agricultural biomass to create fuels, chemicals, and materials will be in the spotlight at an upcoming conference in Edmonton promoting innovation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while advancing the bio-industrial sector. While many of the speakers are from the energy sector, there will be several presentations with an agricultural focus. A trio of professors […] Read more


Cup of coffee

How will federal tax changes affect you?

Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta’s canola, wheat, barley, and pulse commissions are hosting a free breakfast at Agri-Trade on Nov. 9. at the Sheraton Hotel. Also on the menu will be a presentation on the federal Liberals’ proposed tax changes and the potential impact on farmers by Dean Gallimore, a retired partner from KPMG LLP in Lethbridge. Gallimore spent […] Read more

AgSafe Alberta offering free safety programs for farmers

New producer-run organization has free advisers who can make visits to help you improve farm safety


Reading Time: 2 minutes Newly formed AgSafe Alberta now has boots on the ground, says extension co-ordinator Donna Trottier. “There are a couple of things that we want farmers out there to know,” she said at the recent Canadian Agricultural Safety Association conference. “We have three advisers who are available to come out to your farm and help introduce […] Read more


The fall run is tough on calves but we can do better

The fall run is tough on calves but we can do better

The health problems seen in the feedlot don’t come out of the blue and 
careful handling should start at the home ranch

Reading Time: 3 minutes With the fall run underway, cattlemen and women are faced again with the challenge of morbidity and mortality in calves. By the time calves land in the feed yard, they have often been handled and transported several times. How they fight off disease during that extraordinarily stressful period is related to their age and weight. […] Read more

Sending a replacement or first-calf heifer into winter in poor condition will cost you later on as pregnancy rates, calf weaning weights, 
and successful pregnancies will be lower.

First-calf heifers need some extra love

Keep a close eye on the conditions of these young females, that require more energy 
and nutrients than mature cows

Reading Time: 4 minutes Replacement and first-calf heifers need extra management, but producers can take different paths to get to the same destination. Beef producers like Alberta’s Darren Bevans, Tyler Fulton in Manitoba, and Murray Shaw in Ontario know replacement and first-calf heifers need some extra attention heading into winter, but that doesn’t mean over-the-top management. Bevans and Fulton […] Read more


Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt (l) and Baljit Singh, dean of veterinary medicine at the University of Calgary, tour the vet college’s Spy Hill campus.

Vets decry province’s plan to redirect school funding to Calgary

Province will pull funding from Saskatoon’s veterinary college to expand its Calgary counterpart

Reading Time: 2 minutes The Alberta Veterinary Medical Association says the province is making a mistake by pulling its $8 million in annual funding from the University of Saskatchewan’s Western College of Veterinary Medicine to expand the vet school at the University of Calgary. The association said it supports the expansion of U of C’s veterinary medicine program to […] Read more

Hand over wheat field in early summer evening.

Wheat growers, plan this fall for next year’s wheat class changes

Almost 30 wheat varieties will be transitioning to the new Northern Hard Red class 
next August, and that could impact your bottom line

Reading Time: 3 minutes Alberta wheat producers need to start preparing this fall for next year’s Canadian wheat class changes. “When some farmers plant their wheat in the spring, it will be Canadian Western Red Spring, and when they harvest it, it will be in the new class,” said Brian Kennedy, grower relations and extension co-ordinator at Alberta Wheat. […] Read more