John Bocock believes the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences (ALES) has seen a healthy, progressive change over the last century.

The Scottish game of curling was introduced to Canada in 1807 in Montreal, QC, but didn’t make its way west for another 80 years, where the first game was played in Edmonton in 1888. From there, the game’s popularity spread to even the newest pioneer settlements—including the hamlet of Grimshaw in the Peace River Region.

The labour-intensive task of decoding one of the world’s highly consumed wheat varieties has made headway in Saskatoon, SK.

BY JEREMY SIMES   A new tool that calculates the carbon footprint of canola and barley production within the farm gate will increase Canada’s competitive advantage in the global market. The downloadable Canadian Crop Carbon Footprint Lookup Tool was primarily developed in response to sustainability measures requested by the European biodiesel industry, said Dennis Rogoza, […]

Farmers are on the front line of our food production. Daily, they are battling the elements, including nasty, uncooperative weather, invasive insects, disease, and weeds that choke and steal the nutrients from healthy crops. And this year, they faced a short growing season (emphasized by #Harvest14).

The United Nations has declared 2015 the International Year of Soils. The goal of this effort is to “raise awareness of the importance of sustainable soil management as the basis for food systems, fuel and fibre production, essential ecosystem functions and better adaptation to climate change for present and future generations.”

As the price of 3D printing continues to fall, farmers should start thinking about what they can and will do with these devices. It’s not pie in the sky … it’s here now!

Brian Northeast believes the new grain-shipping terminal being built a few miles south of his Oxbow, SK, farm this past fall, which will rail Prairie grains and oilseeds into U.S. and Mexican markets, is going to be a boon for southern Saskatchewan farmers.

To relatively little fanfare, the Canadian government brought two of three major international free-trade agreements very near completion this past fall. After years of negotiation, the Canada–EU Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) now faces the approval of its constituent states, the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement (CKFTA) has been ratified and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) remains in negotiations, though its eventual completion and final approval look promising.

It takes a surge of lively discussions before those new, impressive varieties can be potentially planted for profit.