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Agriculture

Grow, find and connect at the Westerner Park Urban Farm Festival!

Published

7 years ago

9 minute read

Westerner Park has strong agriculture roots as one of the largest agricultural societies in Alberta and what better way to showcase our agriculture then through a celebration of food! The Westerner Park Urban Farm Festival focuses on education, encouraging and inspiring people to be knowledgeable about food production and preservation.

Urban Farm Festival & Planting

Westerner Park Urban Farm Festival, presented by Peavey Mart, is going to have a full day of activities, workshops and demonstrations. The community will learn what they can grow in their own backyard, and so much more! The Festival will be an environment where local producers can showcase their products and share their agricultural story. Guests will enjoy a petting zoo, face painting, local vendors, and local producers.

Let’s come together, learn to grow local food and connect with the community at Westerner Park Urban Farm Festival! Keep reading for details on our keynote speaker and the many awesome workshops you can participate in!

 

Key Note Speaker:

Shannon and Danny Ruzicka- Pioneer Principles In The Land Of The Entitled
12:30 pm

Shannon Ruzicka, along with her husband Danny, own and operate Nature’s Green Acres, a small farm near Viking, Alberta. There they raise grass fed nouveau beef, pastured lamb and bush-raised heritage pork, which they direct market to individuals and RGE RD restaurant in Edmonton, Alberta. On top of the physical farming, Shannon takes care of the marketing, customer service and troubleshooting of Nature’s Green Acres all the while homeschooling their three children.

In 2016 the Ruzicka’s successfully completed a year long quest to grow and raise all their food. Shannon is in the process of writing a book about their year. Shannon has had the pleasure of speaking at numerous food and farming conferences over the years and looks forward to many more!

Workshops:

Butter Making Presented by Butter Babes
10:30 am
$35

Join me for a fun workshop on making butter where you will learn about what can be made just by using 1 Liter of cream and which household items to use in order to make your own creamy fresh butter! You will be making your own flavorful Compound Butter by selecting fresh herbs and spices from the “butter bar”. All ingredients are included.

 

Veggie Container Garden Presented by TJ’s Market
12:30 pm
$30

Learn how to grow a bountiful garden in a container. Walk away with your mini garden patch ready to go! Choose from a tomato combo or a pepper combo and add chives, basil, thyme, cilantro or oregano.

                                                                                                                                             

 

Hanging Basket Presented by TJ’s Market
10:30 am
$30

Learn how to plant and grow a beautiful hanging basket. Choose any 4 from Petunias,Lobelia,Pansy, Calibrachoa, Bacopa and Dianthus.

                                                                                                                                              

 

Soil Health & Garden Planning Presented by TJ’s Market
2:30 pm
Free

We want to get you started thinking about how to plan your garden, and taking the first important step of getting the beds ready for planting. Soil health plays a big factor in the success of your garden. In this workshop you will learn how soil compaction, disturbing soil hardpan, living organisms in the soil, weed controls, composting, fertilizers, crop rotation, and raised beds affects your growing potential.

 

Canning Presented by Peavey Mart
12:30 pm and 2:30 pm

Just like Grandma and Grandpa used to do! Come learn a traditional way to make pickles and jam from the fruit and vegetables in your own garden. We will guide you through how to make your own pickles and jam, explain the basics, tools needed, food safety and more.

 

Urban Bees Presented by Peavey Mart
10:30 am
Free

Many are becoming aware of the importance of pollinators.  While there are a variety of pollinators, this introductory presentation will focus on honeybees. Some municipalities in Western Canada are allowing small scale apiaries. Come hear from a hobbyist beekeeper to provide an introduction to honey bee basics including life cycles, identification, good husbandry,  necessary equipment, honey extraction & more.

 

Urban Hens Presented by Peavey Mart
10:30 am and 12:30 pm
Free

Have you ever wondered what owning backyard chickens would be like? Whether you’re in the city, acreage or even a farm. Red Deer is one of the many cities in Alberta that allow hens in city limits, come hear from chicken owners & experts. This session will cover: A guide to getting started, breed selection, coop set-up, illness and disease, good husbandry, bio-security and more.

Succulent Driftwood Planter
2:30 pm
$95

Succulent Driftwood Planter Join in for a fun, on trend succulent workshop! The rectangular log planter provides a perfect space for arranging a natural looking, unique design. With high-quality everlasting succulents, various mosses for colour and texture and bird’s nest you’ll achieve a whimsical affect, which extends its use for all seasons.

                                                                                                                                                                

 

 

Extending The Gardening Season In Central Alberta Presented by Linda Tomlinson
10:30am
Free

Do you want to get started gardening as early in the spring as possible? Would you like to be able to extend your growing season here in Central Alberta? Learn different methods of extending the season for vegetable gardens including: mulches, fences, early plantings, hoops, plastics and polyspun cloth, and how early can you plant.

 

Dividing perennials to keep them healthy Presented by Linda Tomlinson
2:30 pm
Free

Learn when and how to divide your perennials to keep them healthy and share with friends. In this workshop you will learn how to divide and propagate and when is the best time. As well as how to divide perennials based on their root system. You will also learn about tap roots, tubers, creeping roots and ground covers.

 

Native Bees In Your Habitat  Presented by Charity Briere
2:30 pm
$30

When people hear “Save The Bees” they usually think of honey bees, however there are 400 species of native bees that live in North America that need help to. Red Deer is home to 250 species of native bees, and by providing them with food and habitat, we can help ensure that they continue to thrive. This workshop will cover some basic bee biology, diversity, life cycle. You will learn how you can support them in your yard and finish up by building your own pollinator hotel to take home with you!

 

Rainwater Harvesting – From Buckets to Barrels
Free

As a project lead for Rethink RedDeer, Rene Michalak has helped bring resilient community planning to the forefront of public dialog in Central Alberta

Rene is an accredited rainwater harvesting system installer and as of 2012, a practicing permaculture designer (2009) and certified permaculture educator (2016). His urban homestead has collected 4000 liters of water over the winter of 2017, which was used to irrigate the properties perennial food forest and annual gardens.

In this workshop you will gain an understanding of what rainwater harvesting is, and how it is being used to benefit consumers, municipalities and the environment. We will go over the basic components and operating considerations of indoor and outdoor rain water harvesting systems in Alberta, and showcase examples of residential and commercial systems in operation!

 

The Westerner Park Urban Farm Festival takes place on Saturday, May 12 from 10am to 4pm at Westerner Park

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Agriculture

Ottawa may soon pass ‘supply management’ law to effectively maintain inflated dairy prices

Published on November 12, 2024

By

From the Fraser Institute

By Jerome Gessaroli

Many Canadians today face an unsettling reality. While Canada has long been known as a land of plenty, rising living costs and food insecurity are becoming increasingly common concerns. And a piece of federal legislation—which may soon become law—threatens to make the situation even worse.

According to Statistics Canada, rising prices are now “greatly affecting” nearly half of Canadians who are subsequently struggling to cover basic living costs. Even more alarming, 53 per cent are worried about feeding their families. For policymakers, few national priorities are more pressing than the ability of Canadians to feed themselves.

Between 2020 and 2023, food prices surged by 24 per cent, outpacing the overall inflation rate of 15 per cent. Over the past year, more than one million people visited Ontario food banks—a 25 per cent increase from the previous year.

Amid this crisis, a recent academic report highlighted an unforgivable waste. Since 2012, Canada’s dairy system has discarded 6.8 billion litres of milk—worth about $15 billion. This is not just mismanagement, it’s a policy failure. And inexcusably, the federal government knows how to address rising prices on key food staples but instead turns a blind eye.

Canada’s dairy sector operates under a “supply management” system that controls production through quotas and restricts imports via tariffs. Marketing boards work within this system to manage distribution and set the prices farmers receive. Together, these mechanisms effectively limit competition from both domestic and foreign producers.

This rigid regulated system suppresses competition and efficiency—both are essential for lower prices. Hardest hit are low-income Canadians as they spend a greater share of their income on essentials such as groceries. One estimate ranks Canada as having the sixth-highest milk prices worldwide.

The price gap between the United States and Canada for one litre of milk is around C$1.57. A simple calculation shows that if we could reduce the price gap by half, to $0.79, Canadians would save nearly $1.9 billion annually. And eliminating the price gap would save a family of four $360 a year. There would be further savings if the government also liberalized markets for other dairy products such as cheese, butter and yogurt. These lower costs would make a real difference for millions of Canadians.

Which brings us back to the legislation pending on Parliament Hill. Instead of addressing the high food costs, Ottawa is moving in the opposite direction. Bill C-282, sponsored by the Bloc Quebecois, has passed the House of Commons and is now before the Senate. If enacted, it would stop Canadian trade negotiators from letting other countries sell more supply-managed products in Canada as part of any future trade deal, effectively increasing protection for Canadian industries and creating another legal barrier to reform. While the governing Liberals hold ultimate responsibility for this bill, all parties to some degree support it.

Supply management is already causing trade friction. The U.S. and New Zealand have filed disputes (under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) accusing Canada of failing to meet its commitments on dairy products. If Canada is found in violation, it could face tariffs or other trade restrictions in unrelated sectors. Dairy was also a sticking point in negotiations with the United Kingdom, leading the British to suspend talks on a free trade deal. The costs of defending supply management could ripple farther than agriculture, hurting other Canadian businesses and driving up consumer costs.

Dairy farmers, of course, have invested heavily in the system, and change could be financially painful. Industry groups including the Dairy Farmers of Canada carry significant political influence, especially in Ontario and Quebec, making it politically costly for any party to propose reforms. The concerns of farmers are valid and must be addressed—but they should not stand in the way of opening up these heavily regulated agricultural sectors. With reasonable financial assistance, a gradual transition could ease the burden. After all, New Zealand, with just 5 million people, managed to deregulate its dairy sector and now exports 95 per cent of its milk to 130 countries. There’s no reason Canada could not do something similar.

Bill C-282 is a flawed piece of legislation. Supply management already hurts the most vulnerable Canadians and is the root cause of two trade disputes that threaten harm to other Canadian industries. If passed, this law will further tie the government’s hands in negotiating future free trade agreements. So, who benefits from it? Certainly not Canadians struggling with food insecurity. The government’s refusal to modernize an outdated inefficient system forces Canadians to pay more for basic food staples. If we continue down this path, the economic damage could spread to other sectors, leaving Canadians to bear an ever-increasing financial burden.

Author:

Jerome Gessaroli
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Agriculture

2024 harvest wrap-up: Minister Sigurdson

Published on November 6, 2024

By

As the 2024 growing season comes to a close, Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation RJ Sigurdson issued the following statement:

“While many Albertans were enjoying beautiful fall days with above-average temperatures, farmers were working around the clock to get crops off their fields before the weather turned. I commend their continued dedication to growing quality crops, putting food on tables across the province and around the world.

“Favourable weather conditions in August and early September allowed for a rapid start to harvest, leading to quick and efficient completion.

“The final yield estimates show that while the South, North West and Peace regions were slightly above average, the yields in the Central and North East regions were below average.

“Crop quality for oats and dry peas is currently exceeding the five-year average, with a higher rate of these crops grading in the top two grade categories. In contrast, spring wheat, durum, barley and canola are all grading in the top two grades at rates lower than the five-year average.

“Crop grading is a process that determines the quality of a grain crop based on visual inspection and instrument analysis. Factors like frost damage, colour, moisture content and sprouting all impact grade and affect how the grain will perform during processing or how the end product will turn out. Alberta generally produces high-quality crops.

“Farmers faced many challenges over the last few years and, for some areas of the province, 2024 was a difficult growing season. But Alberta producers are innovative and resilient. They work constantly to meet challenges head-on and drive sustainable growth in our agricultural sector.

“Alberta farmers help feed the world, and I’m proud of the reputation for safe, high-quality agricultural products that this industry has built for itself. Thank you to our producers, and congratulations on another successful harvest!”

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