Ag News

Agricultural technology is changing at a rapid pace.

Croptimistic Technology out of Saskatoon has developed a new system that gives producers a more accurate way to determine plant stand counts.

The SWATcam Technology is mounted to each sprayer boom,  the camera then captures images every 50 to 70 feet as it moves through the field.

The camera is high resolution and zooms right in on the target site providing more detail than a satellite image would.

Derek Rude, vice-president of research and development says the data capture is non-biased. 

The Canadian Cattle Association and National Cattle Feeders’ Association have been strong advocates for new innovations such as methane-reducing feed ingredients to be available in Canada, as they are in other countries.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency this week announced the approval of a new livestock feed ingredient that reduces methane emissions from cattle. 

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada latest drought assessment shows 70 per cent of Canada is classified as being abnormally dry or in moderate to exceptional drought,  including 81 per cent of the country’s agricultural landscape.

Alberta’s Drought Command Team will begin work with major water licence holders to strike water-sharing agreements in an effort to mitigate the risk of drought. 

The concern is that this winter, snowpack is below average, rivers are at record low levels and multiple reservoirs remain well below capacity.

Alberta Grains held its Annual General Meeting yesterday as part of the CrossRoads Crop Conference in Edmonton.

Alberta Grains was formed with the amalgamation of Alberta Wheat and Alberta Barley in August 2023.

The new group formally electing its inaugural board of directors and delegates with Tara Sawyer serving as board chair, Scott Jespersen as first vice-chair, and Devin Hartzler as second vice-chair.... all three served on the interim board of directors.

Sawyer says she's honoured to serve as the first chair for Alberta Grains.

 Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's latest drought assessment shows 70 per cent of Canada is classified as being abnormally dry or in moderate to exceptional drought,  including 81 per cent of the country’s agricultural landscape.

Alberta’s Drought Command Team will begin work with major water licence holders to strike water-sharing agreements to mitigate the risk of drought. 

The concern is that this winter, snowpack is below average, rivers are at record low levels and multiple reservoirs remain well below capacity.

The Drought Command Team in Alberta has been approved to commence negotiations with water license holders, aiming to establish water-sharing agreements as a proactive measure to alleviate the potential impacts of a drought.

The objective is to reach agreements within the Red Deer River, Bow River, and Old Man River basins. In the event of a severe drought, these agreements would involve significant users reducing their water consumption to support downstream needs.

Canada has signed on as a founding member of the Efficient Fertilizer Consortium (EFC). 

The EFC funds research to advance enhanced efficiency and novel fertilizer products  and practices that help farmers produce crops while reducing environmental impacts. 

Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay says Canada is committing approximately  $1.3 million to the EFC over the next four years.

Starting February 1, for the first time since 2001, Alberta’s Drought Command Team will begin negotiating with major water license holders throughout the province.

The negotiations are an attempt to strike water-sharing agreements in the Red Deer River, Bow River, and Old Man River to mitigate the risk of drought.

This winter, we have been experiencing below-average snow, and rivers are at record low levels.

Multiple reservoirs remain well below capacity.

Livestock producers in Alberta are getting another chance to apply to receive drought recovery support.

The 2023 Canada-Alberta Drought Livestock Assistance initiative has been expanded to include 23 new regions for eligibility and the deadline to apply has been extended.

Dr Michelle Hubbard a Research Scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Swift Current is working with a team of researchers across the prairies to try and find out what's happening.

The emerging health issue first started showing up on chickpea plants in 2019 in the Assiniboia and Coronach areas.

The symptoms vary from leaf tip chlorosis and wilting all the way to complete plant death.