WASHINGTON, D.C. Ñ Martin Rice has spent almost 20 years periodically prowling the corridors of power within stately granite buildings of America’s capital city. But even with all that experience in navigating Washington, Rice, the executive director of the Canadian Pork Council, can still get jolted. Last week’s trade rulings by the United States Department […] Read more
Stories by Will Gibson
South Korean farmers face major changes
SEONGNAM, South Korea – Yeon-Ho Choi looks far more comfortable in a library than a barn, not surprising given that the 48 year old heads the animal science department at Shingu College. But Choi, a born and raised urbanite, has created a computer network that has made him an unlikely hero for South Korean poultry […] Read more
Alberta offers drought relief, but few details
EDMONTON – Alberta agriculture minister Shirley McClellan will bring forward a drought relief package within two weeks. “We know that we’re going to have to deal with a situation that has reached emergency proportions – it’s not disastrous proportions,” premier Ralph Klein told reporters in Calgary May 25. The premier would not offer details on […] Read more
Poll shows rural Albertans frequent internet users
EDMONTON – Despite struggling with service availability and molasses-slow download times, a new study has found rural Albertans go on-line almost as frequently as their urban counterparts. The Criterion poll, which interviewed 100 people in the province’s small towns and rural areas in mid-September, showed 58 percent of people in rural Alberta surfed the internet. […] Read more
Fund-raisers pleased with impact on Ethiopia
EDMONTON – The sandy red soil in the mountains of northern Ethiopia may seem like a different planet from the black loam on the pool table prairie of southern Saskatchewan. But Warren Crossman, a Saskatchewan Wheat Pool district representative from Melville, found some home-grown similarities on his trip with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank to Ethiopia […] Read more
And this little pig farmer goes to market
NEERLANDIA, Alta. – Frustrated by falling commodity prices, one Alberta farmer is taking his piggies directly to market. Dick Barendregt began selling privately to customers in Edmonton last March after he forecast a disastrous plunge in pork prices. “We also foresaw that the big corporations are going to take over from the little farms if […] Read more
Alberta puts brakes on use of purple gas
EDMONTON – Up to 10,000 people will lose access to tax-exempt purple fuels in the Alberta government’s latest attempt to cull non-producers from using the cheaper gasoline and diesel fuel. The crackdown, which started in July, is aimed at stopping non-farmers from using marked fuels, which are exempt from some provincial taxes. So-called purple gas […] Read more
No-till farming is better, say advocates
NISKU, Alta. – Farmers shouldn’t let snide asides from their neighbors prevent them from switching to zero till, say two proponents of the conservation technique. While some snicker about dirty fields cluttered with chaff and stubble, Ken Eshpeter said more farmers must look past the appeal of pure black land and focus on the bottom […] Read more
Beef campaign to get most bang for buck
EDMONTON – Cattle ranchers in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and northern Alberta won’t see the Beef Information Centre’s new television campaign launched Sept. 22-26. But the centre will ask those ranchers for more money to spend on advertising. In efforts to get the most bang for its buck, the centre is focusing its $3.2 million advertising budget […] Read more
World’s largest strawboard plant to be built in Alberta
THORHILD, Alta. – An Edmonton-based company plans to start construction on the largest strawboard plant in the world near here this fall. Alta Goldboard has plans to build a $150 million plant just outside the town, about 80 kilometres northeast of Edmonton. Doug Hathaway, Alta Goldboard’s vice-president of sales and marketing, said the company already […] Read more
