Farmer selected the crop when looking for ways to expand his wheat-canola rotation to solve disease and insect problems
GALAHAD, Alta. — The addition of hybrid fall rye to the crop rotation has helped limit disease, control weeds and produce better canola crops, said a Rosalind, Alta., farmer. “Consistently it performs. It is rather remarkable,” said Matthew Enright, who started growing the crop when he moved back to the farm in 2015. Enright said […] Read moreStories by Mary MacArthur
Best transition plan is one that is implemented
Many farmers spend a lot of time developing what they think is the perfect plan but remain hesitant to put it into action
BRANDON — Farm families don’t need the best farm transition plan, they need the second best plan, said a farm management consultant. “Second best doesn’t sound very good. Nobody wants to be second, but if it means it is an implemented plan, then that is better. An implemented plan that gets changed and tweaked as […] Read more
An old will can be as bad as no will
GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. — Gareth Pugh has seen the good and the ugly sides of estate and will planning and prefers the good side — the planned. Not having a will may cause devastating consequences for farming families, but having an old will can cause just as many problems, said the lawyer specializing in estate […] Read more
Grandchildren prompt move to the city
Gaylord and Lois Mierau's transition from active farming to renting out land and now selling the land and retirement to another province was not made in haste. With neither of their two children wanting to return to the farm, the decision was inevitable.
Farm couple insists on staying put
Vic and Winnie Rowley are in their mid- and late 80s; they want to stay on their central Alberta farm as long as they can
CLIVE, Alta. — At 88 and 86 years old, Vic and Winnie Rowley have no intention of retiring and moving off the farm. “I like to go to town in the morning for coffee and that’s it,” said Vic, from his farm north of Clive, Alta. “I don’t think I’d like living in town. It […] Read more
Move to town next step in retirement transition
Alberta couple recently sold the rest of their bison and a half section of farmland and organized their spring farm auction
At the end of April, the couple held an online auction and sold their antiques, fuel tanks, sprayers, bison-handling equipment, stock waterers, vehicles and a life-time collection of odds and ends from the farm. When buyers came to look at the auction items, whether it was an iron, cream separator or lantern, it all sparked a conversation.
‘It is a lot different living here’
Moving from big city life in Tehran to a cattle operation in central Alberta required Ala Hakim to make major adjustments
Moving from a city of eight million people to a town of 1,000 in 2016 had its challenges.
Elk’s regulatory squeeze
NISKU, Alta. — When Bob Boos sells a truckload of elk, he holds his breath. If the mandatory tests for chronic wasting disease come back negative, he can breathe a sigh of relief and know he will be paid for his animals. Until then, he wonders if he will have a business the following week. […] Read more
Elk producers face uphill battle for hunt farms
NISKU, Alta. — Alberta elk farmers have lobbied the provincial government for more than 20 years to approve hunt farms, but it will take more than that, said Alberta’s agriculture minister Nate Horner. “Politically, you need to convince more people than me. The former minister took it right to cabinet and it didn’t get far,” […] Read more
CWD test called ‘important development’
NISKU, Alta. — A live test for chronic wasting disease will help elk producers manage the disease so that they will no longer need to kill an entire herd in the search for additional cases, said the chair of the Elk Research Foundation. “This is an important development in our industry,” said Harvey Petracek, a […] Read more
