The Senate's Agriculture Committee has released its highly anticipated Critical Ground report on the state of soil health in Canada. We chat with one of the senators involved in the study coming up on Rural Roots Canada, where we amplify Canadian Agriculture.

The Canadian Senate has released its much-awaited Critical Ground report looking at the state of soil health in Canada.

Paula Simons, an independent senator representing Alberta in the Senate, says they visited farms across the country as part of the study.

To read more about the story go to ruralrootscanada.com.

After a cold snowy week across southern Alberta, we get a chinook this week.  

Yes, it will be windy in all the usual places, especially between Lethbridge and Crowsnest Pass,  and it will be warmer. 

There may be occasions this week, particularly Wednesday and maybe Thursday, that the temperature will climb close to ten degrees, but overall this should be an event with single digit highs in most areas for most days of this week.   It won’t be  quite warm enough, perhaps, to get rid of all the beneficial snow now on the ground.   How much snow disappears will depend on how much sunshine we get with the chinook wind.  A cloudy day with an air temperature of +4 isn't going to make the snow go away, because the snow’s temperature is still zero or below.   But, add some sunshine, and it’s a different story. 

The wind warms the air, but it's the sun that warms the snow, and makes it melt or evaporate.

Read the full forecast at Rural Roots Canada.com.

The Alberta Invasive Species Council says its Squeal on Pigs awareness initiative continues to be a big success.

Invasive Species Technician Paige Kuczmarski says the Wild Boar Control program, which started in 2018, has resulted in landowners and individuals filing reports of wild boars or signs of the animals.

Since the inception of that program in 2018, they have captured around 458 wild boar from the landscape through the corral traps.

Technology has completely changed the way farmers and ranchers check cows during calving season.

ONE Cup A-I is one of those companies pushing forward new tech that is changing the industry.

Mokah Shimigelsky, Founder and COO of the company,  says their tech uses computer vision and artificial intelligence to uniquely identify animals and then track their behaviours and health to give information producers can act on.

She says they have seen considerable growth in the last two years.

Rural Roots Canada Meteorologist David Spence took a look back at the different conditions and how they impacted the farms and ranches throughout central Alberta.

Rural Roots Canada Meteorologist David Spence takes a look back at the different conditions and how they impacted the farms and ranches throughout southern Alberta.

It's been an up-and-down year for weather and moisture levels in the province.

Rural Roots Canada Meteorologist David Spence took a look back at the different conditions and how they impacted the farms and ranches throughout southern Alberta.

Nearly 80 young women from across southern Alberta gathered at Lethbridge Polytechnic for Harvesting Ambitions: Young Women in Agriculture, a hands-on career exploration event showcasing the diverse opportunities in agriculture.

The full-day program, organized by Southern Alberta Collegiate Institute, featured interactive workshops and panel discussions with women leaders in the industry. The students explored everything from plant chemistry and entomology to entrepreneurship and sustainability.

Teacher Lori Adamson says it was an eye-opening experience for the students. "A lot of the comments were about how they didn't know business and finance could be part of agriculture or that scientists had a role in agriculture, so we opened their eyes to some different fields within agriculture," says Adamson. "Our goal is to show these young women the value of a career in agriculture. Whether you’re interested in plant chemistry, environmental sciences or running the business side of an operation, agriculture has something for everyone.”

AgSafe Alberta has developed some new educational tools around respirators to make sure farmers can breathe easier in the future.

Jody Wacowich is the Executive Director of AgSafe Alberta.

She says they wanted to grow awareness about respiratory protective equipment and emphasize the longer-term health impacts on the farm.

For the full story go to ruralrootscanada.com.

The Centre for Innovation at Medicine Hat College, which is now in its second year, is expanding into agricultural research.

Chelsey Ehresman, who is the manager of C-4-I, says it's all possible due to some funding they received this year.