Ag minister says service vital to rural Albertans
More than 98 percent of people in Alberta are now connected to high speed internet, said Service Alberta minister Manmeet Bhullar during a videoconference of the announcement. What started with the building of Alberta’s Supernet during the 1990s, which brought high speed internet to hospitals, schools, libraries and government buildings in communities across the province, […] Read moreStories by Mary MacArthur
XPO organizers plan hay display
Organizers of a new forage competition hope to receive more than 100 entries of hay, haylage and silage from across Canada. “We encourage people to show off their hay,” said Ray Robertson, manager of the Ontario Forage Council and organizer of the Milk Maker Forage Competition. “Forage has not received the same recognition as the […] Read more
Internet goal almost complete in Alberta
More than 98 percent of people in Alberta are now connected to high speed internet, said Service Alberta minister Manmeet Bhullar during a videoconference of the announcement. What started with the building of Alberta’s Supernet during the 1990s, which brought high speed internet to hospitals, schools, libraries and government buildings in communities across the province, […] Read more
Farm safety checklist makes safety easier
Alberta Agriculture is developing a farm safety checklist to make farms a little safer as they become larger and hire employees who aren’t always familiar with farm equipment and livestock handling. The need for a simple farm safety checklist spurred Theresa Payne of Gatez Farms Ltd. of Crossfield, Alta., to sign up for the Alberta […] Read more
Cattle pulled to safety after falling through ice
A northern Alberta family that spent four hours pulling cattle from an icy dugout warns other producers to fence their dugouts. The final outcome was a broken hand and one dead animal. Peggy Johnson said she was moving bales when her cattle spied the open gate into the corrals and started racing through it toward […] Read more
Imports of imitation dairy products worry sector
Proliferation of look-alike products | Processors encouraged to develop dairy products that use real milk
EDMONTON — Alberta Milk chair Tom Kootstra has issues that keep him awake at night. Canada’s border with the United States allows milk products and frozen desserts that look like ice cream to leak northward into the Canadian food supply and pass themselves off as dairy products. “I want to know my grandchildren drink milk, […] Read moreMunicipalities struggle with cost of absorbing towns
Deficit burdens | When a community dissolves, a bigger municipality must take over to provide services and fix infrastructure
EDMONTON — It’s the rural municipality equivalent of buying a house and a week later finding out the house needed major renovations. When Camrose County absorbed the small village of New Norway a year ago, it knew the infrastructure was in need of repair, but it didn’t know how badly. Ten days after taking control […] Read more
Light at the end of the power bill
STETTLER, Alta. — It was the sight of their power bill that drove Harry Brook and his wife to build an energy efficient, solar powered house that was off the electrical grid. “I feel a little smug when I say, ‘I don’t pay any power bills,’ ” said Brook, who lives near Stettler. An Alberta […] Read more
Controversial steer supplies food bank
The steer disqualified from the Calgary Stampede steer show in July after it tested positive for trace amounts of drugs has been donated to the food bank in Airdrie, Alta. “It will be ready for Christmas,” said steer owner Royden Anderson of Didsbury, Alta. “I don’t need the meat and it seemed like the right […] Read more
Fusarium seed ban hurts Alta. growers: rural councillors
EDMONTON — A law banning fusarium graminearum infested seed in Alberta doesn’t work and should be rewritten, say some rural municipal councillors. Westlock County reeve Bud Massey said each municipality should have the right to decide if fusarium is declared a pest and not allowed or declared a nuisance under the pest act and controlled […] Read more
