Crop walk reveals uneven maturity, but farmers say their dryland crops look better this year than they did last year
TURIN, Alta. — Variable maturity levels appear to be a common problem in southern Alberta canola fields lacking irrigation. Autumn Barnes, agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada, said she is seeing quite a few crops with that problem in her areas south of the Trans-Canada Highway. “A lot of variable emergence issues this […] Read moreAuthor Archives
Grassland traps carbon but measurement tricky
LUNDBRECK, Alta. — There are various incentives in Canada and the world to encourage new initiatives for carbon sequestration and offset greenhouse gas production. Rewards for already doing those things, by maintaining healthy perennial grassland, for example, are much harder to come by. Ed Bork, a University of Alberta range ecologist, wants to change that. […] Read more
Alberta woman enters cut flower business
Sarah Adams of Vulcan gets an early start by foraging for prairie flowers and crops that can be used to make bouquets
VULCAN, Alta. — There’s an odd thing about Sarah Adams’ new fresh-cut flower farm: the blossoms are few. Not to worry, though. Her 5.5-acre farm southeast of Vulcan, albertagirlacres, has a wide variety of flowers that will bloom, all of them planted this spring. In mid-June, the nascent plants were in various states of early […] Read moreGovernment approval eludes poppy production projects
Poppies can grow on a commercial level in southern Alberta, but will they? Glen Metzler of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Lab (API) is beginning to wonder. He and others have been involved in a project since 2007 to grow poppy seed in the province, initially for culinary use. At present all poppy seed must be imported. […] Read more
Wild oat resistance persists
Wild and free: that’s beginning to describe wild oats rather well. The “wild” is a given, right in the name, and the “free” is embodied in the weeds’ freedom from in-crop herbicide harm. “We have wild oat seed lots that can have blanket resistance to both Group 1s and Group 2s, meaning they’re resistant to […] Read more
App makes instant weed ID possible
It’s facial recognition software for weeds. That’s one way Brent Nicol, digital farming specialist for Bayer CropScience, describes Xarvio Weed Scout, an app that identifies weeds. He helped farmers test it June 20-21 during the Farming Smarter field school in Lethbridge. “This is the second year we’ve been up and running,” Nicol said. “It’s still […] Read more
Egg producers question feasibility of free-run
Consumers pressure restaurants and food companies to make the practice mandatory, but who will pay the extra costs?
A steady stream of restaurant and food companies proclaim intentions to use eggs only from free-run operations in the future, but egg producers wonder who is willing to pay the cost of more expensive production methods. Some barns have already moved to systems with enriched housing, defined as larger cages with nesting areas, dust baths […] Read more
Alta. survey finds unease with growth hormones
College students conducted the survey in Lethbridge, where residents are very familiar with the cattle industry
In a city that lies at the heart of Canada’s intensive livestock operations, it may not be surprising that most Lethbridge respondents to a survey think farmers and ranchers take care of the environment, use water responsibly and treat livestock humanely. But there is one thing they don’t like: the use of growth hormones in […] Read more
First Nations concerned about grassland loss
Residents of the Blood Reserve in southern Alta. worry about farming practices conducted on their land by non-natives
STANDOFF, Alta. — The people of the Blood Reserve hold cultural and spiritual connections to the land in Alberta’s southwest. Some are worried that non-native farmers issued permits to farm some of the reserve’s 200,000 cultivated acres are adversely affecting the health of that land. They also fear for the future of the other approximately […] Read more
Timely treatments key to tick control
The best time to treat cattle might occur after they are already out on pasture, requiring another trip through the chute
The mere mention of ticks seems to give people a case of the creepy-crawlies. The bite itself is nasty but some ticks can also transmit disease, notably Lyme disease. “Ticks put the fear of God into people for some reason,” said Dr. Roy Lewis, an Alberta-based veterinarian. But ticks are also an issue for cattle […] Read more
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