It has become commonplace to see farm equipment at work between power poles and in ditches where fences have been removed so the 66-foot public right-of-way can be cropped. Dubbed “trespass farming,” Alberta counties have the authority to hand out fines where this illegal practice occurs. Among its range of detrimental effects is negative impacts on game birds.

Long criticized for its irrigation-clogging, livestock-endangering, dugout-deoxygenating properties, lowly pond scum is in the midst of an image makeover.

The release of the Wetland Inventory and Advanced Landcover Prediction and Habitat Assessment last spring has introduced a significant upgrade to the tracking of Alberta’s wetlands. In part, the ongoing project identifies and categorizes the province’s stock of marshes, swamps, bogs, fens and open water bodies that are 400 square metres or larger in size.

A research team at the University of Texas at Austin has created what may be a revolutionary means to irrigate crops by drawing water from the air. The group has achieved proof of concept for a super moisture-absorbent gel (SMAG) soil additive that captures water vapour from the atmosphere and releases it into the soil.

It is with heavy hearts that GrainsWest and Alberta Barley say goodbye to former director and founding GrainsWesteditorial advisory board member Bryan Adam. In the early morning of March 2, Bryan passed at his home in Stony Plain. He was 69 years of age.

A research project now underway at the Field Crop Development Centre at Olds College employs next-generation genotyping technologies to accelerate the improvement of feed and forage barley varieties and triticale forages. The work will also produce a genetic database that will be used in future breeding work.

Canada’s Food Price Report 2022 annually delivers a much-anticipated snapshot of the nation’s consumer grocery bill for the year past with predictions for the coming year. In early January, GrainsWest conducted a wide-ranging discussion on the implications of its latest findings with Sylvain Charlebois, lead author and Dalhousie professor in the faculties of management and agriculture.

As drought ravaged crops across the Prairies this past summer, it was once again made abundantly clear farmers can’t control the weather. On the Prairies, crop losses in dry years can range from 30 to more than 50 per cent of average yield.

Amanda Hardman believes the amount of plastic packaging used in the produce aisles of her local grocery store is unsustainable. As a solution, the second-year sustainable agriculture student at the University of Alberta developed a prototype clamshell package made of sugarcane fibre and intended to transport lettuce. Initially a 4-H Canada Science Fair project, it earned her a spot at the Bayer Youth Ag Summit 2021. “People are looking for packaging options other than plastics as it has either been banned in some places or discouraged in others,” said Hardman.

When Olds College assumed management of the Field Crop Development Centre (FCDC) from Alberta Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Economic Development this past January, management and staff jumped into action. The College took on the support of FCDC breeding programs and amalgamated those employees into its own team. Over the course of just nine months, the College also developed a new strategic direction for the venerated crop breeding institution. In September, its board of governors approved the draft plan for the new strategy. Over the coming months, the College will develop a rolling three-year business plan that will put the new guidelines into action.