Mary MacArthur

ANDREW, Alta. – Warm weather and a nice breeze stopped Robert Ferris’s harvest in its tracks. Normally farmers look forward to mild harvest weather, but the near-record high temperatures in parts of Alberta Dec. 3 thawed the top layer of Ferris’s fields in northeastern Alberta and turned the ground into a sticky mess. “I can’t […] Read more

City folks may not have heard of the book, but the Pembina Institute’s When the Oilpatch Comes to Your Backyard has become a bestseller in rural areas. The guide to dealing with oil and gas companies was so popular the institute has released a revised and expanded edition, said Mary Griffiths, an environmental policy analyst […] Read more

Albertans are being warned about contact with mouse droppings after a man contracted hantavirus, said Alberta’s deputy provincial health officer. The man spent eight days in hospital with the disease, but has since recovered, said Dr. Karen Grimsrud with Alberta Health. The adult male was from the East Central Health Region, an area stretching from […] Read more

Alberta’s Parkinson’s disease association is asking people who have the disease, or their caregivers, to answer a survey so more information can be learned, says the society’s executive director. More than 9,000 people have Parkinson’s disease in Alberta and the disease is more prevalent in rural areas, said Mary Chibuk, executive director of the Parkinson […] Read more

It’s back to the future for Alberta’s new agriculture minister. Doug Horner is the son of former Alberta agriculture minister Hugh Horner. Horner said watching his father as deputy premier and agriculture minister in the 1970s gave him an appreciation and love for rural Alberta. “It is one of the pillars of our province and […] Read more

A southern Alberta farm supply company has been fined after it illegally sold seed protected by plant breeders rights. Parkland Agri Services of Didsbury agreed to pay $200,000 to Proven Seeds and SeCan Association after it advertised common seed that had characteristics of seed protected by plant breeders rights. “This one raised a lot of […] Read more

HEISLER, Alta. – Christmas cakes, the heavy bricks of dessert filled with chopped fruit and soaked in rum, have been a Christmas tradition for years, but try finding anyone who has time to make them anymore. Val Wolbeck is the exception. The mother of four and owner of Val’s Country Café bakes 500 fruit cakes […] Read more

It’s a sales ploy that seems to have worked After an Alberta farmer advertised in a local newspaper inviting hunters to come and shoot his 17 Holstein steers, buyers came calling to buy the meat legally. Leduc farmer Ed Wedman placed a newspaper ad that read: Hunters welcome – hunt a beef. No licence required. […] Read more

It wasn’t an upset seen in other provincial elections, but by Alberta standards Monday’s vote was a shake up in provincial politics. The NDP doubled its seats from two to four, giving it official party status in the Alberta legislature. The Liberals increased their seats from five to 17, according to unofficial Monday night results. […] Read more

EDMONTON – Alberta’s rural municipalities want the government to dust off its myriad reports about what’s ailing rural Alberta and create a rural development authority that will implement the ideas. “The issue has been studied to death,” said John Kolk. The councillor from the County of Lethbridge helped push through a resolution at the Alberta […] Read more