Mary MacArthur

BAWLF, Alta. – The temperature gauge tells Wilf Blackwell the soil is too cold to seed. The calendar on his wall is telling him it’s getting too late to wait any longer. It’s May 13 and Blackwell has pulled his seed drill into the field despite misgivings about the soil temperature. The soil temperature at […] Read more

The Alberta government will pay its farmers $10.3 million as they try to control grasshoppers in a year with extremely high infestations expected. “We are trying to encourage control,” said John Knapp, director of the rural services division of Alberta Agriculture. Under the grasshopper control program, the government will pay farmers $4 an acre, which […] Read more

Albertans will have a say in a new policy aimed at keeping fusarium-infected grain out of the province, says the head of Alberta’s pest management unit. Shafeek Ali said a series of telephone interviews, round table discussions and mailed questionnaires will attempt to gather suggestions on the best way to prevent fusarium from getting a […] Read more

The first Alberta elk herd to have an animal test positive for chronic wasting disease has not been destroyed even though it has been more than one month since the disease was detected. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the owner of the northern Alberta herd have yet to agree on the value of the […] Read more

A Calgary MLA has introduced a private member’s bill that would put Alberta closer to allowing provincial wheat and barley to be sold outside the Canadian Wheat Board. Bill 207, the Alberta Wheat and Barley Test Market Act, would set up a 10-year test to allow farmers to sell their grain to whomever they chose […] Read more

NORTHEASTERN ALBERTA – It was the second last stop of the day, but the farmhouse was still a shock for Blair Rogers, a veteran special constable for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “People live here? They can’t possibly live here,” Rogers said, looking at the faded pink house. Part of a […] Read more

Alberta is proposing to restrict fusarium-infected feed and seed grain shipments from Saskatchewan and Manitoba and corn from the United States unless the grain can be certified fusarium free. Shaffeek Ali, chair of an Alberta fusarium task force and head of Alberta Agriculture’s pest risk management unit, said farmers want to prevent the spread of […] Read more

RED DEER – An organization has been formed to fight the development of intensive livestock operations in Alberta. Citizens Advocating Public and Environmental Responsibility hope that by having individuals join together they can create a large enough voice to force the Alberta government to take a second look at allowing wide scale intensive livestock development […] Read more

Just as farmers finally get permission to use a long-banned but effective poison for gopher control, they are going to have trouble getting enough to do the job. Liquid strychnine is in short supply throughout the world. “It’s been kind of a bad situation. Now’s the perfect time to be out poisoning and we’re not […] Read more

Prairie gophers will be safe from poison for another year thanks to Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden. The Sept. 11 attacks in the United States and subsequent American bombing in Afghanistan has created a worldwide shortage of strychnine. Nu-Gro Corp., the Prairie’s main supplier of strychnine, buys its supplies from Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Brian […] Read more