STANDARD, Alta. — Efforts are underway to close a knowledge gap that cost the lives of hundreds of weaner pigs when the semi-truck hauling them rolled near Standard earlier this year. Swine production manager Alastair Bratton was on a business trip to Calgary in mid-spring when he was asked to assist at the scene, a […] Read more
Stories by Brenda Kossowan
If it’s metal, it’s ripe for makeover
LINDEN, Alta. — Compelling evidence of a retired rancher’s powerful addiction is creeping across his yard. It all started innocently enough. About 17 years ago, realizing that their children had no interest in taking over, Ron and Karin Arm-strong sold their family ranch near Youngstown, Alta., and moved to a quarter section north of Linden. […] Read more
Have your art and eat off it, too
DIDSBURY, Alta. — A well-known potter working from a rural studio near Vegreville, Alta., is debunking an old saying that suggests that you can never really go home. Yes, you can, says Debra Durrer, creative force behind Artables tableware and great-granddaughter of Nicholas Cherniawsky, a Ukrainian immigrant who fled Josef Stalin’s bloodstained regime in 1917. […] Read more
Couples falling in love with Willow Lane Wedding Barn
Once the dream of owning a cattle farm came true, the couple invested some of their profit into a building and planning project
OLDS, Alta. — Retired businessperson Fred Huizing feared his daughter and her husband were about to lose their farm. “He thought we were crazy,” Ken Holgerson says, describing his father-in-law and former employer’s reaction to his and Ria’s new plan. They were setting up financing to build Willow Lane Barn, a special-event building in which […] Read moreGravel pit clears hurdle
RED DEER, Alta. — Rural neigh-bours are reeling after losing a major battle in their 25-year war against gravel mining on a 122-acre parcel site in Red Deer County. “This is going to be the death knell for a small farm,” said Dale Christian, debriefing with neighbours on April 25 after council passed a land-use […] Read more
Red Deer farmers fight gravel pit
SPRUCE VIEW, Alta. — Rural neighbours of a proposed project in Red Deer County to convert 122 acres of cropland into a gravel pit continue to voice opposition. On April 25, the county council will entertain second and third reading of a land-use bylaw that would allow gravel mining as a permitted use on the […] Read more
Take a seat at our table
Event brings urban millennials and young farmers together to learn about agriculture, food marketing and catering to demands of this growing sector
OLDS, Alta. — Marketing specialist Michaela Brownlee wants to know that the people who grow her food use the same high standards as she does when she buys and prepares it. She got a chance to meet the people who grew and raised the food on her plate and the beverage in her glass during […] Read more
Craft breweries cheer new rules
OLDS, Alta. — Few pleasures match that of sipping a fresh and lively ale made with malt from your own barley, says an Alberta grain grower. Wade McAllister, fifth-generation producer on a farm established east of Olds, Alta., in 1915, says the dramatic growth in craft breweries over the last two years has stimulated new […] Read more
Ag show manager bids farewell
Agri-Trade | Patrick Kennedy moves on
RED DEER — The agricultural trade show that has continually pushed expansion at Westerner Park in Red Deer bade farewell this year to its founding manager. Patrick Kennedy had been a sales representative with Morris Industries and had worked with Canada’s Farm Progress Show in Regina when he pitched the idea for a farm equipment […] Read moreWheat project gets $25M funding
Research money | Federal cash infusion designed to boost wheat breeding, attract expertise and improve communication
RED DEER, Alta. — New funding for wheat breeders will help attract expertise and open communication between research centres, says a producer from Alberta’s Lacombe County. Terry Young, research and development chair for the Alberta Wheat Commission, joined federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz Nov. 7 to announce creation of a new wheat breeding cluster, funded […] Read more
