Gary Waldron of Anchor D Ranch Simmentals has purchased his first piece of land. “We all need to cheer on the new generation of farmers and ranchers. So very proud of you Gary,” it shared.
Excel Ranches celebrated the accomplishments of Emilie with her Excel steer, Yosemite Sam. “We also love that you described him in the sale book as “pure tranquility,” it shared.
Rusylvia Cattle Co. congratulated Miss Mya on having the Bonnyville District Champion Steer, which she selected from their fall sale. “We are so proud of your results and efforts!” it shared.
Towaw Cattle Company shared a photo of a first calf heifer that calved on June 1. “Calving on grass is sure nice, now we need some rain so there will be grass a month from now.”
The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association launched a website called Don’t Label My Beef to campaign against the proposed labelling for ground beef. “Ground beef should be exempt from Health Canada’s proposed front-of-package (FOP) labelling like other nutritious foods, such as single ingredient meat, milk, eggs, vegetables, and fruit,” said Michelle McMullen with the CCA.
Alberta Beef Producers said earlier this month that with checkoff refunds totalling about $30 million over the last dozen years, it may have no choice but to cut support for the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association by as much as $1 million per year. Brad Dubeau, ABP’s general manager, said such a move would be a last resort. “The board of directors and delegates feel we fully need to fund CCA,” he said.
Reg Schellenberg, president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, expanded on the goals for his tenure which “are centred on my passion to leave a vibrant industry for the next generation.” He’s also concerned about animal health and care, enhancing risk management for producers, and accelerating innovation in the industry.
Alberta Beef Producers said producers should be granted permits allowing them to kill a dangerous grizzly bear without being charged. “There’s a precedent in this in the way we currently deal with problem coyotes. A permit is only issued after a producer confirms livestock kills or property damage,” said general manager Brad Dubeau.
A new carbon soil mapping project, led in part by Cameron Carlyle, an associate professor in the University of Alberta‘s department of agriculture, food and nutritional science, aims to help beef producers trap carbon and fight climate change. The province said beef production accounts for less than 4% of greenhouse gas produced in Alberta, but half the emissions of the agriculture industry, about 20% of which are removed by soil carbon sinks, such as perennial crops used for grazing cattle.
After years of contradictory research into adaptive multi-paddock grazing (AMP) — an intensive cattle grazing practice intended to emulate the grazing practices of large wild herd animals — University of Alberta researchers have published a study suggesting that AMP is not an “ideal solution” to preserving plant diversity in prairie rangeland.
Maria Leslie said the Alberta Chicken Producers is optimistic the spread of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus has passed in Alberta, but still urges caution. “I want to encourage people to continue to follow very high standards of biosecurity with any birds that they might have on their farms,” she said.
Alberta Canola chair Roger Chevaux said this year’s canola crop in Alberta “is by far the most expensive crop we’ve ever grown.” This year canola is selling at $25 per bushel, up from $12 per bushel last year, in part due to the war in Ukraine.
Many Alberta farmers are seeing a gap between the amount of data they collect with smart technology and their capacity to apply data. “The technology has advanced a lot more over the past few years, but we’re still leaving the majority of users behind,” said Olds College instructor Simon Knutson, who sees the lack of integration between tech platforms and the rapid pace of advancement as primary drivers of the gap.
The Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network launched a campaign to raise $5 million with the aim of attracting more participants to the smart-farm network. “We have invested significant resources to planning this initiative because it’s a necessary step in the nationwide adoption of emerging agricultural technologies,” said CAAIN CEO Kerry Wright.
Project Agriculture is a new government-funded online learning platform with sections for elementary and junior high students. The platform was started by groups representing Alberta’s supply-managed farms and is now being plugged to educators by the province’s four major crop commissions, Alberta Farmer reports.
TrustBIX has announced the release of BIX Origin, a module aimed at furthering it’s initiative to “reward the agri-food and waste industries for their sustainable efforts, and to supply key insights and verifiable data to participating organizations and end consumers.”
