Canadian forage and grasslands look to be export ready

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada - Livestock producers across the country and abroad depend on the high quality hay produced by Canada's forage and grassland industry in order to deliver safe, nutritious, and sustainable food. Increased forage exports, valued at $360.8 million for 2017, are helping the agriculture sector reach its potential to be an even stronger economic engine for the economy, driving towards our target of growing annual agri-food exports to $75 billion by 2025.

Alberta Land Institute: Albertans concerned about loss of high quality agricultural land

• Analysis of satellite imagery shows that between 1984 and 2013 the amount of land in urban uses in the Edmonton-Calgary corridor increased from 3,127 km2 to 4,763 km2, an increase of 52%
• From 1984 to 2018, the Calgary urban area expanded from 242 km2 to 754 km2
• Around Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer, expansion of urban areas was higher in the 1984-1992 period than in either the 1992-2001 or 2001-2013 periods

Alberta Land Institute - A new report from the Alberta Land Institute found that high quality agricultural land in Alberta continues to be fragmented and calls for greater discussion around land use policies to preserve quality agricultural land as Alberta grows.  The report was conducted by Dr. Brent Swallow and Dr. Scott Jeffrey from the University of Alberta. It found that most of the farmland converted for developed uses between 2000 to 2012 was of the highest levels of suitability and prime crop land, with 35 per cent of the highest suitability and 34 per cent of the second highest suitability found in Alberta.

Restoring wetlands through market based solutions

Anna Kauffman

Anna Kauffman, Masters of Science candidate, University of Alberta Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology - To create a sustainable future for Alberta’s economy and environment means implementing and discovering practical methods to better conserve and restore wetlands.

It’s the work a team of researchers from the University of Alberta’s Alberta Land Institute studied when they launched Alberta’s Living Laboratories in 2015 by identifying market based solutions that can be used to restore wetlands. The goals of the project were simple: discover the number of restorable and lost wetlands in Rocky View County and qualify the value of restoring wetlands to all those living within the county. The work and lessons learned in nearly three years has been considerable.

AFSC streamlines crop inspection

Government of Alberta - Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Oneil Carlier issued the following statement after meeting Alberta crop commissions and discussing farmers’ concerns on unharvested crops: