Each fall, once harvest is complete, Alberta Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Economic Development collects soil samples for wheat midge and does stem counts for wheat stem sawfly.

The goal of AYSA is to encourage this passion and develop communication, leadership and networking skills in youth. Given a choice between seven pressing agricultural issues, these future farm ambassadors had clearly done their research and impressed the judges with their insights.

EarthDaily Analytics is a Vancouver-based data processing and analytics company. With its agricultural subsidiary EarthDaily Agro and Agrilab, a Ukrainian precision farming business, the company launched Support Ukrainian Farmers Coalition (SUFC). The global organization is composed of government, corporate and NGO partners.

Many Prairie crops did poorly in the high summer temperatures of 2021, but the wheat stem sawfly thrives in such conditions. The beneficial insect populations that prey upon the sawfly were also knocked back by the heat, which has given the cereal pest another leg up. To size up the sawfly situation for the current crop year, GrainsWest spoke with Meghan Vankosky, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada entomology research scientist and co-chair of the Prairie Pest Monitoring Network.

The kits are intended to use playtime to instil a lifelong appreciation for agricultural safety and set children up to act as safety ambassadors on their farms. Among each kit’s contents is an adjustable, CSA Z96-15 compliant child‘s safety vest.

While the nation expects agriculture to contribute to long-range carbon emissions reductions targets, agriculture has made huge gains in sustainability since the early 1990s. Naturally, farmers are frustrated by the lack of recognition for these positive developments.

An industry-led organization formed in 2018, AgSafe Alberta works with farmers and ranchers to improve the safety of their operations. GrainsWest spoke with Jody Wacowich, the organization’s executive director, about the launch of FARMERS CARE, a farm safety program that will eventually feature four bite-sized levels.

Alberta crop commissions have partnered with the Adaptation Resilience Training (ART) program to build climate change knowledge within their organizations and provide skills and networking opportunities for Alberta university graduates.

On a bright but chilly day last October, Nevin Rosaasen, Alberta Pulse Growers (APG) sustainability and government relations lead, and Hayley Webster, the commission’s Adaptation Resilience Training project assistant, made their way to a small slough on Hannah Konschuh’s farm near Cluny. Konschuh, a former Alberta Wheat Commission (AWC) director, joined them for the short hike down from an adjacent dirt road to examine this modest, semi-permanent wetland.

Thirty years ago, streambanks and shores were not valued to the extent they are now. This changed in the early 1990s, when a handful of agricultural landowners recognized the need to better manage these riparian landscapes. In kitchen table sessions, they formulated a vision with support from the Alberta Cattle Commission, now known as Alberta Beef Producers. The ABP rightly predicted the rising importance of riparian stewardship and determined the agriculture sector should lead its management.