Mary MacArthur

It’s a long way from northern British Columbia’s Peace River agricultural region to the legislative buildings in Victoria. But some farmers hope to bridge the distance by driving their tractors and combines about 1,200 kilometres southwest in an effort to attract political attention to their plight. “They’re just not listening to our crisis in Victoria,” […] Read more

WIZARD LAKE, Alta. – Even Evelyn Dickhout admits she needs a marketing plan. A kind way to describe her poultry and baking business would be “scattered.” What started as raising a few pheasants on the central Alberta farm turned into an octopus of a businesses with Dickhout stretched in every direction. On the farm are […] Read more

Pork groups worried about the siphoning of hogs into the United States have established a working group to stop the southbound flow of hogs. The Canadian Pork Council, the Canadian Meat Council and Agriculture Canada will be joining to promote industry-wide understanding of conditions necessary to create a competitive hog industry. Industry representatives will be […] Read more

British Columbia farmers will meet with government officials this week to talk about the devastating crops across the province, says the assistant deputy minister of agriculture. “We’ve had several crop crises across the province,” said Gord MacAtee, of Victoria. Producers are expected to meet in Richmond Oct. 16 to look at the existing government programs […] Read more

A website about the proposed pork processing plant in Lethbridge has caused a stink in the southern Alberta town. The Stinky Lethbridge website was created by retired teacher Bruce Haig as a way to fight the city’s decision to allow the Taiwanese company Yuan Yi Agricultural and Livestock Enterprise Co. to build a pork processing […] Read more

Cynics may have thought the Alberta Growth Summit was a waste of time, but it was tough to pry a discouraging word from the agriculture delegates at the Alberta conference. “I found it a wonderful learning experience,” said Marie Logan, of Lomond. “It probably made me a better Albertan,” said the grain and cattle producer […] Read more

Two weeks ago, when Nick Parsons drove his combine through his barley crop, water oozed out of the ground and moved ahead of the combine in waves. Behind the combine the water settled in deep ruts. That was before the latest four centimetres of rain and snow shut harvest down again in British Columbia’s Peace […] Read more

Alberta’s agriculture minister is visiting China, Taiwan and Japan to drum up business for the province’s food industry. Ed Stelmach is leading the Oct. 4-21 trade mission of Alberta businesses. “Alberta’s agriculture industry is gearing up for a major expansion over the next several years,” Stelmach said in a news release. “This mission is another […] Read more

The thought of losing his college tuition may have saved Mark Lakevold’s life from the deadly hantavirus. Officials at Edmonton’s Northern Alberta Institute of Technology told the Provost, Alta. man if he didn’t show up to register for mechanics classes at the beginning of September he would lose money he had paid for tuition. Lakevold […] Read more

The farming community of Barrhead is the first town to vote to keep its controversial video lottery terminals since the Alberta government allowed communities to decide for themselves if they wanted the machines. But no one is sure if the vote signals a change in people’s opposition to the machines or just plain apathy. Of […] Read more