TABER, Alta. – Whoever first spoke the famous phrase ‘It’ll never amount to a hill of beans’ never visited southern Alberta. With the opening of a second Alberta Pool bean plant here, Ed White’s dream of 50,000 acres of dry beans grown in Alberta is coming true. Bean contracts will total 35,000 acres in 1995. […] Read more
Barbara Duckworth
Stories by Barbara Duckworth
Packers smiling as grain farmers make move to livestock
CALGARY – With the loss of the Crow Benefit subsidy, young Saskatchewan farmers like Lloyd Rodgers of Palmer say they will not earn a living just growing grain. The government announcement was the final straw. Long before the Liberals announced the death of the grain transportation subsidy, Rodgers and his neighbors started to expand their […] Read more
Alberta’s performance-tested bull sale draws large crowd
STRATHMORE, Alta. – When Pat Fisher was asked five years ago to put on a bull sale at the Cattleland Feedyards, he balked. As people continued to tell him he should have a sale for the performance-tested yearlings that board there each year, the idea took form and grew into a three-day extravaganza where more […] Read more
Import barriers, dumping worry sugar beet growers
TABER, Alta. – Brian Anderson is a third-generation sugar beet grower. His grandfather was among the first homesteaders in southern Alberta to grow sugar beets. Despite the tumult in the industry this year, Anderson intends to sow another crop. The future of the Canadian sugar industry is jeopardized by a Jan. 1 order in the […] Read more
Heavy duty workwear stays cleaner than the barn
DICKSON, Alta. – Alberta is a long way from the catwalks of New York or Paris, but Anna Jensen’s fashions have one distinct advantage for farm women. Her overalls are made with nylon that doesn’t stain so manure comes off without a mark. Jensen holds an accounting job with flexible hours so she can spend […] Read more
Pressure foreseen on dairy industry
RED DEER, Alta. – If Chile joins a free trade zone with North America, the United States could use the deal as a way to demand greater access to the Canadian market, said a University of Manitoba agriculture economist. Daryl Kraft said as Canada gains a larger share of American and other foreign markets, it […] Read more
BST ‘not a magic bullet’, but U.S. producers see benefits
RED DEER – The jury is still out on the use of dairy growth hormone in Canada, but for thousands of American producers bovine somatotropin is a godsend. Glowing testimonials of milk output increasing by 10 to 15 pounds a day per cow, improved immune systems and lower cull rates were all debated at the […] Read more
P: 19 Milk production up 15% in test cows
RED DEER (Staff) – At Jeff True’s farm in New York state, bovine somatotropin has been a part of the management program for a year. It has brought cows back into production that ordinarily would have been culled and it has increased their rolling yearly average to 24,000 pounds of milk. His 300 cows have […] Read more
Domestic demand, loss of Crow good news for barley growers
BASHAW, Alta. – With low carryover and a hungry domestic livestock industry, the forecast for Canadian barley is hot. And the Canadian Wheat Board has no quarrel with farmers who opt to sell into this rising market, said commissioner Lorne Hehn at a board district meeting here. “If you can get a better price, take […] Read more
B.C. farmers assessing loss of freight subsidy
CALGARY – Livestock and poultry producers in British Columbia who rely on out-of-province feed grains are still assessing the impact of last month’s federal budget cuts. The feed freight assistance program was eliminated in the federal budget. Last year, it paid about $15 million to lower feed costs in grain deficient areas that include B.C., […] Read more
