EDMONTON – Lori Erickson feels like a pioneer. She was one of the first Alberta women with a home-based business and one of the first to sell her own creams and body lotions. With a husband in university and two small children, the Bentley, Alta. woman decided to commercialize her husband’s family hand lotion recipe […] Read more
Stories by Mary MacArthur
Foreign company to build dairy plant in Alberta
An off-shore company has bought 11.2 acres of land in Wetaskiwin for a dairy processing plant, said the secretary/manager of the Alberta Dairy Board. The numbered company 735634 Alberta Ltd. will be using the land for a food processing plant, said Lloyd Johnston. There are still some conditions associated with the sale, which is expected […] Read more
Gas cans, plastic box liners pose fire hazard
Pick-up truck owners with plastic box liners are warned they can start a fire if they fill gas containers in the back of their trucks. Static electricity build up from the two surfaces rubbing together can cause a spark and an explosion when the spark hits the fuel. Both the American companies Chevron U.S.A. and […] Read more
Resistant spiny sow thistle found in Alberta
Another weed in Alberta has become resistant to herbicides. Spiny annual sow thistle is no longer controlled by Ally in at least two fields near Ponoka, said Don Poisson, a Westco Fertilizers crop specialist in Ponoka, Alta. Poisson discovered the herbicide resistant weeds last year after two farmers complained the herbicide hadn’t controlled their weeds. […] Read more
Goat breeders on hunt for research funds
Goat breeders have one more year to come up with their part of the money to start a goat research herd at the University of Alberta’s research farm at Kinsella. “We’ve been given one more year to get the Kinsella project off the ground and if not then it’s shelved,” said Jackie Riley, president of […] Read more
Persistent rains batter northern Alta. farmers
Al Mitchell has only 15 percent of his crop seeded, but he’s done for the year. “I quit,” said Mitchell, who had just come in from touring his saturated fields in Wandering River, about 300 kilometres north of Edmonton. The night before it rained another two centimetres on top of already waterlogged fields. He “mudded […] Read more
High volume elevator quickly alters hauling routes
It doesn’t take long for large concrete elevators to change the way farmers haul their grain, according to research by the West Central Planning Agency. The large concrete elevator at Legacy Junction, outside Camrose, was open for only half a crop year and it influenced grain delivery patterns in the area, the agency wrote in […] Read more
Mammal ingredients banned in some feed
Canada is banning the use of mammal parts in ruminant feed in August, co-ordinating laws here with a similar ban in the United States. “These measures are taken as precautionary to minimize the possible risk of BSE in Canada,” said Fredrique Moulin, of the meat and poultry products division of the Canada Food Inspection Agency. […] Read more
Fall-seeded canola raises researchers’ eyebrows
WILLINGDON, Alta. – When Greg Porozni seeded canola last fall for this spring’s direct seeding demonstration plot, he thought it would be a demonstration on how not to seed canola. A combination of rain and freezing weather froze his field solid. It was -20 C on Oct. 27 when the Willingdon-area farmer seeded the 20 […] Read more
Alberta’s agriculture minister likes traveling salesman image
EDMONTON – Like an old-fashioned salesman, Alberta’s agriculture minister pulls lotions and potions from his briefcase. Ed Stelmach has bits of board made from hemp, hand lotion from rhea oil, dog shampoo and rubber gloves lined with oat powder to illustrate the wide range of Alberta products he hopes will soon become household names. Soon […] Read more
