Reading Time: 7 minutes It was a scene that is all too familiar for rural communities. In 2005, the local school division threatened to close Sangudo’s high school. The move “really ticked people off,” says Dan Ohler, who lives in the area, and a “huge roomful” of people met to figure out what to do. Ohler is a certified […] Read more
A co-op for Sangudo
Times were getting tough in the rural Alberta community. Then, local farmers and businesses built a co-op to help local businesses grow and thrive
Small-town problems, small-town solutions
Reading Time: 4 minutes Dr. Gillian Richards is a research associate at Brandon University’s Research Development Institute, and it’s quickly apparent that she is happy to discuss the institute’s research. Hers is a mild English accent; she wants to take a practical approach to rural issues. That, it turns out, is because the barriers to rural development can be […] Read more
Infections of peas versus lentils
Pea fields surveyed were either not infected or fully infected, with little in between
Reading Time: < 1 minute Sherrilyn Phelps’ first day with Sask Pulse was July 7, 2014. By 8 a.m. that morning, she’d already fielded her first call on root rot. It was a sign of things to come. Lentils and peas are both very susceptible to aphanomyces, Phelps told CropSphere delegates in Saskatoon this winter. Some other pulses, such as […] Read more
Managing root rot in pulses
Peas and lentils have been a financial and rotational blessing for producers, but aphanomyces in partnership with fusarium is raining on their parade
Reading Time: 6 minutes If you’d mentioned aphanomyces at a farm show five years ago, you would have drawn quite a few blank looks. But these days speakers with aphanomyces expertise fill the seats. The reason is no mystery to Prairie pulse producers. Field surveys have found aphanomyces from Alberta to Manitoba, as far south as the U.S. border […] Read more
The effective leader
Being effective as a leader doesn’t come from throwing your weight around. Instead, with John Knapp as proof, it starts by discovering what your team members bring to the table
Reading Time: 7 minutes It’s not every government department that has a deputy minister who makes a point of having coffee with staff in the morning. But then, not every deputy minister is John Knapp. Knapp retired from Alberta Agriculture in 2013, but he’s still active in the leadership field. He wrote a book, titled The Leader’s Practice Guide, […] Read more
The new employee
Are your HR skills holding your farm back?
Reading Time: 8 minutes Farms keep getting bigger and more complex. But at the same time, farm families keep getting smaller, with farming couples having fewer kids, just like other Canadians. On many farms, this collision of demographic and economic trends means the days of running the farm by putting the family to work are gone. You can’t even […] Read more
Young and old
The farm version of the generation gap means that succession talks on many farms stall before they even get a fair chance to start. Here, adviser Delores Moskal shares her ideas for seeing eye to eye
Reading Time: 6 minutes When it comes time to put succession planning on your personal agenda, there are only a couple of ways for it to go, says Delores Moskal. There are the parents who are open to talking succession with the next generation. And then there are parents reluctant to even broach the subject with the kids. So […] Read more
Rural distress
As Jane’s story shows, spousal abuse is a stubborn fact of life for many country women
Reading Time: 11 minutes She was a rodeo queen with a wide circle of friends that included both men and women. And she still loves horses, although she’s had to put her equestrian activities on the back burner until she recovers financially. I catch her on the phone one evening after work. She is calm and thoughtful, pausing as […] Read more
Fire guts Saskatchewan town’s last elevator
Reading Time: 2 minutes Residents of Prelate, Sask. had a rude awakening Tuesday as the village’s last grain elevator, owned by Paterson Grain, was engulfed in flames. Calls to 9-1-1 started coming in at 5:48 a.m. Tuesday, according to Jason Gizen, a local volunteer firefighter and pedigreed seed grower. Gizen lives in the house closest to the elevator and […] Read more
Protectionism game comes with raised economic stakes: Frum
Reading Time: 3 minutes As U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration day approaches, the business world is pondering how the new administration might affect the world economy. Trump’s pride in his unpredictability is troubling, given he’s the president-elect, said David Frum, political commentator, former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, and a senior editor for Washington-based magazine The Atlantic. However, […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
