EDMONTON – The thousands of kilometres of shelterbelt trees around Alberta farms and fields likely had their start just outside Edmonton.
Since 1951, the Provincial Tree Nursery has provided shelterbelt trees to farms across the province.
“There were millions of trees. Every shelterbelt along the fence line was generated here,” said Stan Blade, director of the renamed Crop Diversification Centre North.
In its first year the nursery distributed 123,814 trees. But as the popularity of shelterbelts built, the nursery was shipping about 2.5 million plants a year.
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While CDC North is still doing key research, its focus has shifted away from trees.
In 1981 the facility became the centre for horticulture research and extension in northern Alberta.
In the 1990s, the centre expanded its scope to special crops research to help farmers with the new markets.
Blade, leader of the New Crop Development Unit with Alberta Agriculture, estimates the 900,000 acres of special crops planted in the province are worth more than $150 million annually.
The acreage is still only five percent of traditional crops, he said.
Blade said there is good response from industry groups on the research done at the centre. Last year more than $250,000 of extension money came from special crop and horticulture groups to help fund research.
Lyle Conway, with the Alberta Greenhouse Growers Association, said the organization works closely with scientists at CDC North.
“We support a lot of the programs here,” said Conway.
When the price of natural gas increased last winter, the greenhouse growers teamed up with CDC greenhouse specialists to put on workshops to help reduce heating bills.
“We’re forever drawing on that information,” he said during CDC North’s 50th anniversary celebrations and open house.
