Mary MacArthur

The Alberta government has learned from the previous mistake of tying aid money to the slaughter of animals, says Alberta agriculture minister Shirley McClellan. Four days after the federal government announced a federal cull cow program tied to slaughter, Alberta announced its own mature animal aid program not tied to slaughter. “If we had gone […] Read more

KELSEY, Alta. – On a cold winter day Nov. 20, 60 farmers started their grain trucks, pulled their augers to the railway line and loaded 70 producer cars in an attempt to change the way grain is hauled in their area. It’s the first time Rodney Anderson ever loaded a producer car. Previously the Kelsey […] Read more

Students from rural Alberta wanting to attend university may have a more attractive option in further education than being part of a large city campus. The University of Alberta has signed a letter of intent to have Augustana University College in Camrose become one of its faculties. Rod Fraser, president of the U of A, […] Read more

EDMONTON – There is a sense of uncertainty in the rural community about what will happen in the cattle industry, said an Alberta rural municipal councillor. John Kolk said while there are fewer specific questions about how an Alberta cow contracted bovine spongiform encephalopathy, there is still a sense of how long the ripple effects […] Read more

GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. – When Paulette and Earl Langenecker moved from Teepee Creek to Grande Prairie, they took the usual boxes of clothes, books and toys. But they also dug up and moved 4,500 saskatoon bushes. The northern Alberta farm couple didn’t feel the new buyer was offering enough for their farmland so they took […] Read more

GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. – A group of northern British Columbia bison ranchers is searching for more investors to help boost sales of buffalo meat. The Northern B.C. Buffalo Co. hopes money from another 10 investors will be enough to allow them to develop a marketing strategy to sell their bison sausage and meat across the […] Read more

EDMONTON – The lucrative timothy hay export market is a well-kept secret in the agricultural world. While other producers struggle to cover their costs of production, timothy growers cover their costs and more. “We make very good money on our hay,” said Kate Whenham of Outlook, Sask., who grows timothy on 640 acres of irrigated […] Read more

EDMONTON – Canadian hay exporters know Japanese producers like Canadian timothy, but they don’t know why. “We’re trying to figure out why they buy what they buy,” said Albert Van Genderen of NAFTAC Commodities, a timothy export company from Lethbridge. “We know what the reasons could be, but we don’t know why.” Knowing why Japanese […] Read more

GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. – Attendance at Alberta Beef Producers fall meetings is up dramatically this year. About 150 people attended the Grande Prairie meeting last week. Erin Moskalyk, a beef producer delegate, estimated that’s at least 50 more than were at the meeting a year earlier. Twice as many cattle producers also came to the […] Read more

GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. – Some cattle producers think the provincial cattle organization should reduce its spending instead of asking for another $1 per head checkoff. The Alberta Beef Producers has proposed that the checkoff from every beef animal sold within the province be increased to $3 a head from $2 to help finance the recovery […] Read more