Reading Time: 2 minutes If you’re wondering if hops might be something you’d like to try, Ontario’s Ag Ministry’s website has a powerpoint primer called Local Hops: A brewing industry. Even though the presentation is barely a year old, Alberta doesn’t even make the list of hops-growing provinces. The owners of Northern Girls Hops west of Edmonton actually started […] Read more

Demand is there, but jumping into hops isn’t easy

Feds announce tax support for cattle producers
Measures will assist those hit by bovine TB outbreak and in areas affected by drought
Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta and Saskatchewan cattle producers affected by bovine TB outbreak in 2016 and this year will receive additional tax relief. Farmers who received compensation under the Health of Animals Act from livestock destroyed due to the bovine tuberculosis outbreak in 2016 and 2017 in Alberta and Saskatchewan are eligible for livestock tax deferral provisions. These allow them to defer a […] Read more

Veterinarian school funding decision creates controversy
School’s dean says it makes sense to consolidate in Calgary but association says it’s capping training in the midst of a vet shortage
Reading Time: 3 minutes The dean of the province’s vet school is defending the NDP government’s decision to consolidate veterinarian education in Alberta — but the association representing the profession says it’s short sighted. The province announced last month it will be pulling its $8 million in funding from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon to expand […] Read more

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

Alberta’s newest meadery takes a different approach
Reading Time: 3 minutes Alberta’s newest meadery is doing things a little differently. Along with a traditional honey wine, Tamarack Jack’s Honey and Meadery also produces a variation that might tempt those who prefer a brewskie to the so-called ‘drink of the gods.’ “We are a small apiary turned into a meadery just recently,” Katie Kingdon, manager of the […] Read more

Chicken producers decry abuse shown in undercover video
Abuse on a B.C. broiler farm is an isolated incident but the poultry industry must ensure it doesn’t happen again, says Alberta Chicken Producers
Reading Time: 2 minutes Like its predecessors, the latest undercover video by Mercy for Animals showing abuse of animals on a farm has had a big impact. The 2-1/2-minute long video shows catchers from Elite Farm Services kicking, throwing, and simulating sexual acts with broiler chickens on a farm in B.C.’s Fraser Valley. Erna Ference, chair of the Alberta […] Read more