EDMONTON – Leslie Richardson is scared to total the cost of her family’s trip to Farmfair International in Edmonton this year. It cost $1,000 for the ferry ride from the Queen Charlotte Islands, fuel for the two-day trip to Edmonton, hotel rooms for two weeks, food and the $400 a day cost of hiring a […] Read more
Stories by Mary MacArthur
Independent stores can survive big box jungle
EDMONTON – Independent stores, greenhouses or nurseries need to be different from their multinational competitors if they’re going to survive, said a Nova Scotia greengrocer who has thrived in a tough food business. Pete Luckett, the celebrity English grocer now located in Canada, said independent stores need to be first, best or different from their […] Read more
Clubroot answers elude producers
ACHESON, Alta. – Farmers counting on high-priced canola to see them through tough times are taking the threat of clubroot seriously. More than 100 farmers, fertilizer dealers and agronomy staff gathered in a rural hall near Acheson Nov. 13 to learn the latest about clubroot. The disease is often called the cancer of canola because […] Read more
Controversy in the air at Farmfair
EDMONTON – Tina Wagers couldn’t believe her eyes. On the day of the Angus sale at Farmfair International she watched her two-year-old Charolais cow slowly turn black. Aerosol spray paint used by Angus breeders to darken and shine their cattle drifted across the barns like a fog. “We watched them turn from white to grey. […] Read more
Winning smiles prevail at Alberta’s Farmfair
EDMONTON – Rob and Gail Hamilton of Cochrane, Alta., were three times lucky at this year’s grand finale cattle show at Farmfair International. The Hamilton Farms group of cattle won the Legends of the Fall bull calf show, Supreme Breeder’s Herd and Supreme Show of Champions female. “This is unbelievable. It’s a dream come true,” […] Read more
Small breed gets own show
EDMONTON – Brenda and Brian Chicoine of Storthoaks, Sask., have big cattle, but they prefer their little ones. This year, for the first time, they got to show off their Lowline cattle in the breed’s own show at Farmfair International. Six Lowline breeders from British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan brought 43 animals to Farmfair’s first […] Read more
Lamb study to target sire quality
VERMILION, Alta. – Early results of a carcass sire project show a good ram can make all the difference. Gordon Schroeder, executive director of the Saskatchewan Sheep Development Board, said the trial shows that the quality of Canadian lamb can be improved dramatically by using a good terminal sire ram. “We’ve got producers who think […] Read more
Greenhouses can be marketed as destinations
EDMONTON – Sandra Ciurysek was brimming with ideas about all the possibilities for her northern Alberta greenhouse. Ciurysek had listened to four panelists at a landscape and greenhouse trade show tell how they attract customers to their rural greenhouses and she couldn’t wait to tell her sibling partners what she’d learned. “I liked the idea […] Read more
Low prices hurt Farmfair
EDMONTON – Low cattle prices kept some producers away from Farmfair International this year. Gaylene Groeneveld, organizer of the Simmental show, said she knows at least five breeders who decided to save their money and keep their cattle home. “If you take five and they take five to six cattle each, that’s 30 head that […] Read more
Producer wants lower hog checkoff
VERMILION, Alta. – An Alberta hog producer wants his marketing agency to reduce the fee it collects per animal by 75 percent as a way to help producers weather the current price crisis. “We’re using reserves now to continue to operate,” Bryan Perkins of Wainwright, Alta., said at a recent Alberta Pork regional meeting. “We’re […] Read more
