Survey may hear about allocation changes and increasing competition among users such as producers, urban communities and industry
Researchers are seeking to learn from farmers and ranchers in southern Alberta about how changes such as water scarcity affect agricultural practices and policies in the region. “You’re often seeing in the news these days the struggles that are going on in agricultural communities, and across here, we have rolling droughts all the time, and […] Read moreIrrigation
Sask. irrigation expansion still questioned
A consulting engineer says the province’s $4 billion plan to irrigate 500,000 acres from Lake Diefenbaker needs more scrutiny. Robert Halliday, who is also on the Saskatchewan Environmental Society executive, told the National Farmers Union Region 6 annual convention that there are public policy, economic and environmental questions that have to be answered before the […] Read more
Precision planting, strip tillage to be studied
Alta. research centre launches project exploring what methods and tools are needed to boost canola yields by 35 percent
A three-year research project will not be reinventing the wheel in its efforts to help southern Alberta farmers find ways to meet the rising demand for canola, says an expert. “It’s a really great example of what I consider adaptive research,” said Ken Coles, executive director of Farming Smarter. The project involves taking proven technologies […] Read more
Algeria wants to slash durum imports
Country is expected to buy five million tonnes of wheat and durum in 2021-22, down from 8.4 million tonnes in 2016-17
One of Canada’s top durum customers is trying to reduce its reliance on imports, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report. “The government of Algeria’s goal to reduce durum as well as bread wheat imports remains a top priority,” stated the report. However, a poor harvest will still force the country to buy some […] Read more
Alberta farm group expresses budget regret
Producers welcome previously announced capital spending but say they are unhappy with losses to jobs and programming
The Feb. 26 Alberta budget brought no major surprises for the agriculture sector. The size of the provincial deficit, at $18.2 billion, and the provincial debt at $115.8 billion generated most of the buzz, along with an historic $1.25 billion contingency fund in the health sector to fight COVID-19. Agriculture capital spending comprised funds previously […] Read more
Ingredients for progress suggested
Federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau is making serious efforts to respond to grievances among prairie farmers about defects in farm support programs like AgriStability. AgriStability was intended to underpin farm incomes when, through no fault of their own, farmers’ operating margins drop below longer-term averages. The program is cost-shared with 60 percent of the funding […] Read more
Treatment project creates potable water from poop
One of the first companies to take a serious look at disassembling slurry was Livestock Water Recycling. These Calgary-based researchers began developing their mechanical-chemical treatment technology 15 years ago. All wastewater recycling projects are challenged with disassembling slurry to break it down into individual components. The LWR website states that their basic process uses mechanical […] Read more
Alta. ag research agency approves first round of funding
Results Driven Agriculture Research project recipients range from precision irrigation to on-farm grain drying to soil health
The first recipients of funds through Results Driven Agriculture Research, the organization that has largely replaced Alberta Agriculture government research, have been selected and notifications to those who provided project proposals are underway. RDAR issued a call for proposals Oct. 20, with $4 million in provincial and federal government funding at its disposal. It drew […] Read more
Sask. irrigation project takes another step
Clifton Associates Ltd. of Regina has been chosen to lead the work on the Westside Irrigation Project in Saskatchewan. The company was selected after a request for proposals. As the prime consultant, Clifton will look after the preliminary engineering design for phases 1 and 2 of the project to expand irrigation out of Lake Diefenbaker. […] Read more
EU may pay farmers to curb cattle methane
Environmental groups called the proposal ‘hidden subsidies to the highly polluting intensive animal farming industry’
BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) — Farmers should get European Union funding to reduce methane emissions from livestock or increase organic farmland, the European Commission said recently, under plans to make agriculture greener. The EU is nearing the end of a two-year battle to overhaul its massive farming subsidies scheme, to attempt to align the agriculture sector, […] Read more
