LANGHAM, Sask. — The protocols for carbon credits used by Alberta for the past 10 years may soon be adopted in Saskatchewan, says one carbon credit aggregator. Bill Dorgan, business unit leader for Trimble Agriculture, told those at the Ag in Motion farm show near Langham last week that the Saskatchewan government is likely to […] Read more
Barb Glen
Stories by Barb Glen
Sheep company merger hopes to boost supply
A major merger in the Canadian sheep business announced July 20 is designed to establish an integrated lamb supply chain. Alberta-based SunGold Specialty Meats announced plans to merge with Fresh Canada Meats to form North American Lamb Company Ltd. (NALC). SunGold’s processing plant in Innisfail, Alta., and the Canada Gold lamb lot at Iron Springs, […] Read more
Cattle handling can damage families
An expert says the stress caused by improper livestock handling could make children reluctant to stay on the farm
LANGHAM, Sask. — Cattle handling expert Dylan Biggs gave crowd members something to think about during a workshop last week at the Ag in Motion outdoor farm show. It wasn’t about cattle. He suggested the stress many families experience when herding, loading and processing cattle could have an effect on farm succession. See more coverage […] Read more
Farmers warming to autonomous ag: inventor
Norbert Beaujot says more producers are overcoming their skepticism about driverless farm equipment such as DOT
LANGHAM, Sask. — While men in tractors pulled seeding and tillage implements over the ground at the July 17-19 Ag in Motion show, the DOT autonomous seeder laboured quietly on its own. DOT debuted last year at the Ag in Motion show, but farmer interest in seeing it operate was still strong this year, judging […] Read more
Military base makes fire aftermath promises
Canadian Forces Base Suffield is taking steps to be a better neighbour after causing a fire last fall that destroyed livestock, pasture, feed, fences and outbuildings outside the base. The Sept. 11-12 blaze, started when base personnel detonated an artillery shell during dry, windy conditions, burned about 90,000 of acres to the north and east […] Read more
Southern Alberta canola needs relief from heat
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. NOTE: Corrections were made to this story […] Read more
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
Few insect pressures found in southern Alberta
Hot dry conditions favour lygus and diamondback moths, so farmers must make sure to keep monitoring their crops
TURIN, Alta. — When there are hoards of insect pests eating the canola, the decision to use insecticide is obvious. When numbers are barely at the economic threshold, the choice is more difficult. In the case of cabbage seedpod weevil, early seeded fields in southern Alberta had numbers close to the threshold, but later seeded […] 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
