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The Food Issue
2016
Grains
West
6
Bridge thegap
A LITTLEGOES A LONGWAY INRURAL ALBERTA
DURING THESE WARM, SUMMER
months, if you hit the highway in any
direction across Alberta and glance out
the window, you’re bound to spot golden
fields of wheat, canola so yellow you’d
think it was painted onto the landscape
and, on occasion, the calming pale blue
of thousands of flax heads swaying in the
wind. You might also see some world-re-
nowned Alberta beef cattle grazing on
pasture land carpeted with native grass-
es. Whatever you see, it’s all part of one
of Alberta’s key industries: agriculture.
Alberta is about the same size as
France and is responsible for producing
about half of Canada’s barley and 30
per cent of its wheat. More than 50,000
farmers and ranchers call this province
home. The men and women who work in
primary agriculture and the broader agri-
food system represent one out of every
eight Canadians. It seems far-fetched that
12.5 per cent of Canucks work in “ag,” but
that’s the reality. To many people, farm-
ing and ranching seem like professions
from a bygone era. And in a province
where more people live in cities than not,
city limits seem to represent not only
an imaginary division, but a physical
barrier of understanding between rural
and urban Albertans. On the other hand,
we often don’t have to look very far to
find our own agricultural connections.
Some of us have grandparents who grew
up on a farm or friends who spent their
free time when they were young help-
ing out with seeding and harvest, while
others were farm kids themselves. Today,
however, as the average age of farmers
gets higher and fewer young people enter
the industry, the number of people with
these important connections to agricul-
ture is shrinking rapidly.
It can be hard to understand what oc-
curs on a daily basis out in “the country”
because rural Alberta is so foreign to so
many urbanites. Just what are those giant
green, red or yellow machines plodding
through the field and what is the farmer
inside doing exactly? And why? It could
be an air drill, a high-clearance sprayer
or a combine. The vital takeaway is that
the understanding of what happens at the
average farm or ranch is difficult to grasp
until you set foot on one. How could any-
one expect to know what life is truly like
for modern farmers and ranchers until
they’ve helped with, or at least observed,
many of the daily and weekly tasks these
men and women carry out? This discon-
nect goes both ways—it would be diffi-
cult for a lifetime rural Albertan to grasp
the true nature of a Calgary or Edmonton
resident’s daily life without experiencing
it first-hand.
A great way to catch a glimpse of
farmers and ranchers in the wild is by
attending the multitude of agriculture
events in Alberta, and summer is the per-
fect season to engage with rural Alberta.
To that end, mark Aug. 20 and 21, 2016,
on your calendar for Alberta Open Farm
Days. This provincial initiative is a time
when farmers and ranchers open their
doors to the public to educate urbanites
about their lives. Come sit on a tractor,
scratch a pig behind the ears, learn about
the importance of soil fertility, and
gain an understanding of how farmers
grow crops from seedlings to a bin full
of harvested grains or oilseeds. In 2015,
more than 10,000 Albertans went out
into the country to 72 different farms
across the province as part of open farm
days. If you’re looking for other agricul-
tural events, there is also the Calgary
BY TREVOR BACQUE
EDITOR’S
MESSAGE
Stampede and K-Days in Edmonton each
year, as well as many outreach events
for children. Farmers and ranchers often
work the booths at these events and pro-
vide first-hand information about their
business and life.
With open minds and a bit of humility,
our urban-rural divide can shrink, and a
greater understanding will result.