Alberta Bulletin

Alberta Bulletin

Alberta Canola director Kevin Serfas (centre) participates in a FarmTech cooking demo, making cold-pressed canola oil mayonnaise for an all-local potato salad with Chef Dave Omar (left) of ZINC Restaurant.

FarmTech 2017: Another Great Success

Thank you to the hardworking FarmTech committee for putting together yet another great event. We enjoy working with our fellow crop commissions to offer this dynamic event to our producers.
From weather to agronomy to management to nutrition information, the diversity of information presented was vast and everyone walked away having learned many new things. Thanks to our Canola Council of Canada agronomists for helping attendees learn as much as possible about canola agronomy at our shared booth over the three-day event.

Reflections from Some Outgoing Directors

Kelly McIntyreKelly McIntyre – Fairview, ALTA.

The one memory that has stuck with me over my six-year term is from an early Canola Discovery Forum. I was attending a meeting involving producers from each provincial board, CCC (including industry representatives), and a host of ag researchers and scientists. At one point we had small group discussions directly with the scientists and they were very eager to hear my thoughts on different agricultural challenges from a grassroots perspective. While I had only been on the Alberta Canola board for a short time, I remember feeling that even a farmer such as myself could have a direct impact on what kind of research might get done. That was a very exciting and powerful moment for me.

Terry Young

Terry Young – Lacombe, ALTA.

I am proud to have been on the board as we have seen such a significant increase in effective collaboration. Especially with other crop commissions with projects like Team Alberta for government relations, Alberta Crop Extension and many other valuable collaborations. Alberta Canola is now better than ever at extension and informing our membership of what we are working on, and we are better at communicating this information to growers, government and the entire value chain.

Welcome to 5 New Directors

Back L-R:
Cale Staden, Vermilion; Dale Uglem, Bawlf; John Guelly, Westlock; Kevin Serfas, Turin; Brian Hildebrand, Foremost; Steve Marshman, Strathmore
Front L-R:
Renn Breitkreuz, Onoway; Greg Sears, Sexsmith; Mike Ammeter, Sylvan Lake; Dan Doll, Fairview; John Mayko, Mundare; Denis Guindon, Falher

Alberta Canola’s 27th Annual General Meeting was held January 31st at the FarmTech Conference in Edmonton.

The Board of Directors would like to welcome:

  • Mike Ammeter of Sylvan Lake replaces Terry Young in Region 7
  • Dan Doll of Fairview replaces Kelly McIntyre in Region 1
  • John Mayko of Mundare replaces Daryl Tuck in Region 4
  • Cale Staden of Vermilion replaces Stuart Holmen in Region 10
  • Region 12 welcomes Brian Hildebrand of Foremost

Greg Sears was re-elected as Chair and Renn Breitkreuz was re-elected as Vice -Chair.

We would like to thank Stuart Holmen, Daryl Tuck, Terry Young and Kelly McIntyre for their dedication during their time as directors.

Tax Credit for the 2016 Tax Year Open to Alberta Canola Producers

Canola growers in Alberta that do not request a refund of their check off from the Alberta Canola Producers Commission qualify for a tax credit for the 2016 tax year. The Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credit allows canola growers to claim the tax credit for that portion of the check off paid that was used to fund qualifying research. For full details visit albertacanola.com/sred.

Save the Date!

canolaPALOOZA returns to Lacombe
June 27th, 2017

What is canolaPALOOZA you ask? It’s a day that brings the best research and agronomy extension experts from across the country into one field in Alberta, for a day of interactive, hands-on, in-field learning where you move through learning stations and demos at your own pace. There’s also a big top tent, movies, games, a dunk tank and, of course, food trucks to round out this learning and networking extravaganza!

Canola Digest - March 2017