RJ Sigurdson, MLA for Highwood, is sworn in on June 9, 2023 as Alberta’s minister of agriculture and irrigation. (Government of Alberta video screengrab via YouTube)

Calgary-area MLA named Alberta’s new ag minister

RJ Sigurdson to handle ag file, Horner moves to finance

The Alberta government’s caucus lead on emergency medical services (EMS) reform has been promoted to handle the agriculture file in a post-election cabinet shuffle. RJ Sigurdson, MLA for the constituency of Highwood, just south of Calgary, was sworn in Friday by Lt.-Gov. Salma Lakhani as Alberta’s new minister of agriculture and irrigation, replacing Nate Horner.

Photo: Thinkstock

Alberta harvest nearing completion

CNS Canada – Alberta farmers made significant harvest progress in late-October, with nearly 95 per cent of crops off the field as of Oct. 30, according to the final crop report of the season from Alberta Agriculture. On a crop-by-crop basis, spring wheat was 96.1 per cent harvested, durum 95.4 per cent, barley 95.6 per



Oneil Carlier, shown here in an NDP video posted May 5 on YouTube, is Alberta’s new minister for agriculture, forestry and rural development. (YouTube.com)

Alberta NDP taps ex-AAFC staffer as ag minister

A former technician with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has been named as the Alberta New Democrats’ first minister of agriculture, forestry and rural development. Premier Rachel Notley on Sunday named Whitecourt-Ste. Anne MLA Oneil Carlier to the now-expanded portfolio, which takes over responsibility for forestry from the department of environment and sustainable resource development. Including Notley


horses on a pasture

Big bales don’t cut it when it comes to horse hay

Horse industry buys more forage than any other livestock sector, but buyers have exacting criteria

You could call horse hay buyers the ‘big-little’ customers in the forage business. They are big buyers, but they typically prefer little packages. “The horse industry purchases more forage than any other sector in agriculture,” said Les Burwash, manager of horse programs for Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. “I’m not saying we use more —

Verlyn Olson. (Olson.myPCmla.ca)

Alberta ag minister named acting justice minister

Alberta’s agriculture minister is now also its justice minister. Premier Jim Prentice on Saturday appointed Verlyn Olson, MLA for Wetaskiwin-Camrose since 2008 and the province’s ag and rural development minister since 2012, as both acting justice minister and solicitor general. Prentice said his move follows having “asked for and received the resignation” of Calgary-Acadia MLA


Biofuel Standards Will Affect Farmers

The Renewable Fuel Standards will have an effect on farmers. The federal mandate is that there is a renewable fuel quantity that must be added to fossil fuel, for gasoline a five per cent ethanol blend will be added and for biodiesel a two per cent blend will be added to diesel. These amounts are

RFID May Go The Way Of Bar Codes If New Technology Catches On

What does the cattle industry have to learn from Walmart? When it comes to ear tags, the answer is “more than you might think,” said David Moss, chief operating officer of Livestock Identification Services Ltd. Moss is a passionate supporter of replacing the radio frequency identification (RFID) cattle ear tags with passive (non-battery-equipped) Ultra-High Frequency


4-H Reports – for Aug. 26, 2010

TheCo-operatorwill publish 4-H reports once a month. Reports can be submitted by the third week of the month by email to [email protected], by regular mail to 4-H Reports, c/oManitoba Co-operator,1666 Dublin Ave., Winnipeg, Man. R3H 0H1 or by fax to 204-954-1422. PRAIRIE SHEPHERDS Last September, for the first time, the Prairie Shepherds club participated at