Bayer Youth Ag Summit attendees (from left) Kelcie Miller-Anderson, Brendon Hebor (Bayer youth ambassador and co-founder of Toronto’s Ripple Farms), Grace Heuver, Leah Davidson from Quebec, Karly Rumpel from Saskatchewan, Emmett Sawyer and Komie Hossini of Bayer CropScience Canada.

The kids are alright — and they have big ideas for feeding the world

Reading Time: 4 minutes Three up-and-coming Albertans were among 100 young global leaders who met in Brasilia, Brazil, to discuss sustainable solutions to feeding the planet. Grace Heuver, Emmett Sawyer and Kelcie Miller-Anderson were chosen to attend last month’s Bayer Youth Ag Summit — a biannual event that brings together youth aged 18 to 25 to discuss and develop […] Read more

Food policy should focus on the establishment of strong communities centred around identifiable, traceable food production and processing for local, domestic and export markets. – Brenda Schoepp.

As we rethink globalization, we need to think about communities

In many parts of the world, the current system is broken and doesn’t serve consumers or farmers

Reading Time: 3 minutes The world was once a scattering of small communities that through hunting and gathering, and later farming, were often self-sufficient. As systems of trade were built, dependent largely on the sea, goods and services had value and started to leave or be exported from these community hubs. In many cases, this brought an infusion of […] Read more


More than 625 square kilometres of agricultural land in Alberta were lost to residential or industrial uses between 2000 and 2012, according to the Alberta Land Institute. A new organization, the Alberta Farmland Trust, has been created to give landowners a way to keep good land in production.

New farmland trust aims to preserve good soil

Tax treatment key to saving cropland

Reading Time: 3 minutes [UPDATED: Nov. 26, 2019] A new and innovative effort to save prime Alberta cropland from being turned into another suburb or industrial site is close to becoming a reality. Grain farmer Kim Good and lawyer-rancher Stan Carscallen say the Alberta Farmland Trust should be a registered charity by early in the coming year. And they’re […] Read more



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UN report on livestock and climate change gets lost in translation

Panel of climate change experts say meat production must be sustainable — but few noted that distinction

Reading Time: 3 minutes “Eat less meat” was the phrase of choice for describing a new report from the United Nations’ climate change panel. Those three words appeared in headlines in publications such as Time magazine, the National Post, and the Times of London. But the report itself said something different, said the science director of the Beef Cattle […] Read more

Group honoured for sustainable beef effort

Group honoured for sustainable beef effort

Reading Time: < 1 minute The organization that brought together producers, food retailers, conservation groups, and others to create a system for producing sustainable beef has been honoured by the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. The efforts by the founding council and members of the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef have resulted in “transformational change in the Canadian beef industry,” the cattle […] Read more


A committee set up by the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Crops is looking 
at how to develop a code of practice for field crops.

Crop sector eyes code of practice to showcase stewardship credentials

The initiative has widespread support among farm groups and industry

Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s early days, but work has begun on developing a code of practice for field crops — a move aimed at reassuring consumers that producers are using sustainable methods to grow food. “It’s basically on the idea level — we’ve done a little bit of work on what it could potentially look like, but it’s […] Read more

A customer eats an ‘insect tsukemen’ ramen noodle topped with fried worms and crickets at Ramen Nagi restaurant in Tokyo on April 9, 2017. (Photo: Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon)

Farming insects may solve one problem, create others

Rome | Thomson Reuters Foundation — Insects have great potential as an alternative source of protein, but further research is urgently needed before mass production begins in order to avoid environmental disaster, Swedish researchers warned Monday. There is currently an “overwhelming lack of knowledge” on basic questions such as suitable species, their housing and feed […] Read more


There are many aspects to sustainability in beef production but the foundation is much like the 4-H pledge to take proper care of animals in our care, says Carmen White.

Sustainable beef will become the new standard for producers worldwide

Reading Time: 3 minutes Carmen White, 15, of Claresholm was the junior winner in the Alberta Young Speakers for Agriculture competition at the Calgary Stampede. Her topic was: What is sustainability and why does it matter to Canadian agriculture? Canadian agriculture is constantly evolving to meet the needs of society. Beef producers, like myself and my family, have a […] Read more