Alberta research facility gets new lease on life
County of Newell takes over Crop Diversification Centre South and hopes to attract dozens of tenants for the $100 million facility
Like the mighty Phoenix, the County of Newell is hoping the Crop Diversification Centre South in Brooks, Alta., will rise from the ashes and regain the prominence it once had in agricultural research.
McCain Foods looks for new processing potatoes
Company works with the Farming Smarter Association as it searches for options other than the century-old Russet Burbank variety
Russet Burbank has been the go to potato variety for Canadian farmers and consumers.
This year, McCain Foods in Chin, Alta., has entered a corporate partnership with the Farming Smarter Association to explore the viability of other varieties in its food processing plant for farmers to consider.
Farming Smarter is using one of its commercial plots to do a research trial growing four varieties using six treatments.
Alberta irrigation farmers strive for efficiencies to battle through droughts
Southern Alberta irrigators enter the growing season with full reservoirs following the much drier conditions of previous years.
Irrigation reservoirs in southern Alberta are looking a lot better than they have in recent years.
“We are going into the year with full reservoirs, which is nice, especially since the snowpack in the mountains is still in that lower quartile,” said Alex Ostrop, chair of the Alberta Irrigation Districts Association (AIDA) and board member of the St. Mary River Irrigation District (SMRID).