When Anna and Vladimir Posikera received three awards for their multicoloured perogy products at the 2024 Made in Alberta Awards ceremony, Anna found it hard to speak as she took the stage to accept. Just two years earlier in February 2022, the couple, their two young children and Anna’s mother fled Kostiantynivka, a city near the frontline of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Though thrilled to be honoured as grand winner, their difficult escape and the ongoing war occupied their thoughts. “It was very emotional for us,” said Anna.

Science has enriched the world in countless ways: the light bulb, penicillin, crazy glue. Speaking on the latter, research is the glue that holds the grain sector together. Alberta Grains annually approves funding for multiple studies that may benefit farmers.

Canada’s grain sector is built on trade, but without modern infrastructure, the foundation is cracking. The sector exports more than 70 per cent of its output. When infrastructure fails, the financial and reputational damage is immediate. Delays at port or along key corridors impact farmers financially and undermine Canada’s reliability as a global supplier of high-quality grain.

For Canadian grain farmers, the timing couldn’t be better. Organized by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), a late July trade mission to the Indo-Pacific region aimed to bolster ties with Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore—three key buyers of Canadian cereals in the region. Cereals Canada CEO Dean Dias joined AAFC Minister Heath MacDonald and representatives of six additional major agricultural organizations to strengthen relationships in a region that annually imports more than a quarter of Canada’s total agricultural exports.

Olds College of Agriculture and Technology is assessing a machine that mimics lightning to create crop nutrients. The Thunder 365 allows farmers to make their own salt-free liquid fertilizer literally out of thin air. “The cost of fertilizers like urea and anhydrous ammonia has been extremely volatile, with prices peaking at historic highs in recent years,” said Angie Stoute, a research technician at Olds College. “If there’s a way to get that cost down, that’s a great thing.”

When Canadian farmers started growing Harrington barley in the early 1980s, it set a new benchmark for quality. Harrington’s performance in the malthouse and the brewery earned Canada recognition as a global supplier of malting barley. The resulting stronger demand and reliable premium made barley worth seeding.

Canadian children from non-farming families are typically exposed to agriculture at school. A national, charitable organization, Agriculture in the Classroom Canada (AITC-C) works with provincial AITC groups to provide schools with curriculum-linked, agriculture-themed activities. The organization looks to strengthen its value to the industry with a leadership shakeup and refreshment of its programs.

Farmers are being backed into a corner, said Breanne Tidemann. “They are losing the go-to weed management solutions they’ve relied on for years—herbicides—and need to consider new tools to keep their fields clean.”

Farming has never been easy, but for those now launching careers in agriculture, the hurdles are higher than ever. “There’s a massive barrier to entry that’s never been there before,” said Evan Shout, co-founder and CFO of Maverick Ag, an agricultural consulting and risk management firm. He believes the higher-than-ever cost to take up farming is the greatest challenge and restriction facing today’s new and young farmers. “These days, it’s hard to start from scratch, you almost need to have a family farm to play in the game.”

The proposed reopening of the Grassy Mountain coal project on Alberta’s Eastern Slopes has prompted questions about selenium and downstream water quality among scientists, citizens and farmers. In a January Grainews column, retired agronomy research scientist Ross McKenzie raised concerns about selenium mobilization and its persistence in watersheds downstream from the Eastern Slopes. In July, ecotoxicologist Guy Gilron responded in a letter to the editor, arguing that guideline exceedances do not necessarily translate into risk and that regulatory controls exist, characterizing McKenzie’s warning as alarmist.