Eric Steeves says raising sheep on forages grown under solar panels provided economic stability and perhaps even saved his family’s fifth generation southern Alberta grain farm.
Tag Archives diversification
Solar, sheep provide valuable farm diversification
An Alberta farmer says thousands of acres of solar panels across Canada can actually enhance agricultural production
Food exporters urged to ease reliance on U.S.
A Farm Credit Canada analysis of trade in the food and beverage sector examined ways to diversify markets
Farm Credit Canada says there is a $12 billion opportunity in diversifying food and beverage exports to markets other than the United States.
Support needed at all levels for high-value solar projects
Renewable energy project doesn’t take up valuable farm land, it actually enhances it
Farmers, rural municipalities and governments should welcome any opportunity to get involved in large-scale solar power installations, say agrivoltaics proponents.
Starting a side hustle not instantaneous process
Producers considering diversifying into a new line of business advised to begin planning with these 13 steps
Stephanie Plaster, a farm management outreach specialist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s division of extension, shares advice on how to start a successful side business.
Fababeans could help ease rotation pressure on canola
There has been little export demand, but new, safer varieties are expected to open doors in the domestic food market
BRANDON — In a world with Netflix, YouTube and Skip the Dishes, patience is a lost art. More Canadians want things to happen, easily and immediately. Eric McLean, who farms near Oak River, Man., thinks farmers should avoid the “easy button” approach to crop production. Adding another crop to the canola-cereal rotation may not make […] Read more
American farmers should diversify, says analyst
SASKATOON — Grain farmers in the United States are in a financial pinch and may want to look north of the border for a way out, says an analyst. Growers have been cutting costs during the last 2.5 years of the current downcycle. They have reduced equipment purchases, cut back on fertilizers and crop protection […] Read more
Agricultural diversification was a big focus in the 1980s
The early 1980s featured interest rates as high as 21 percent, drought, and low commodity prices, so many farmers sought ways to diversify their sources of income and create more cash flow. Beekeeping, speciality livestock, fruit trees, garden produce or opening homes as bed and breakfast or vacation farms were among the many options explored. […] Read more
Sask. farm diversifies into clothing business
On the Farm: Aaron Spence’s Dirt Road Collective feeds her creative side while allowing her to help her husband at home
Aaron Spence has created a home business that encapsulates four of her passions — farming, Saskatchewan, hockey and lake life. Her Dirt Road Collective online apparel and accessories company features eye-catching artwork, symbols, statements and phrases covering those four themes. She likes the simplicity of her work, like a T-shirt with the handwritten initials SK […] Read more
Foraging ahead with intercropping
Trials look at which crop combinations are the most productive, beneficial to the soil and reduce insects and disease risks
Einstein said no two objects can occupy the same spot at the same time, but he didn’t forbid them from being really close. In agriculture, it’s called intercropping. Intercropping is a complicated system in which two or more plant species occupy the same field at the same time. Biodiversity in the field provides a certain […] Read more
Chickens beat out cows in expansion plan
WAINWRIGHT, Alta. — Farm diversification doesn’t necessarily mean adding a few chickens to the yard. Sometimes it can mean 120,000 chickens. When Greenbelt Farms diversified, it choose broiler chickens over more milk cows and quota. “There seemed to be more opportunity in chickens than in the dairy business,” said Paul Rajotte, one of five family […] Read more
