The past year started with great promises of putting the COVID-19 pandemic behind and reasonable moisture for the spring. Then, through the summer, inadequate precipitation and sustained high temperature created havoc on all crops in the region. The resiliency of MARA staff and the Board enabled the team to continue our work to serve producers, grain crops and livestock commissions, the industry, private and government agencies.

MARA continued Alberta’s first organic regional variety trial for field peas which produced quality data for the organic farmers’ fraternity in the province. In addition, MARA commenced testing breeding lines of the novel crop, camelina. Also, MARA expanded its research base via collaborating with post-secondary institutions in Canada, and other private and government agencies to address issues relating to soil health, variety selection, nutrient management, pest and diseases management, forages, grazing, and carbon sequestration, moisture management, regenerative farming, and precision farming and knowledge transfer to serve a wide range of farmers in the county…

Perennial Forage Trial (PFT) was initiated in 2016 by the Applied Research Associations in Alberta to fill the knowledge gap of perennial forage data available for producers in the region. This study was completed in 2018 and 2nd phase of the project to study long term survival of PFTs was initiated in 2019 and implemented in 2020 which is funded through Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP).

As with many things in the past year we are all in unfamiliar territory. This is the first for that we have held an AGM virtually, and hopefully the last. The past year has been a year of highs and lows for MARA as well as the farming community in Mackenzie County. After many years of prolonged drought, we finally got some very timely rains and most of the crops in the region turned out good to excellent. Then came the fall and we got to experience what the rest of the province has been going through with a very wet and prolonged harvest. Though in the end with high parts bills and much extra work most of the crops made it to the bin…

The past year has been a difficult year for Agriculture in Mackenzie County and the province of Alberta. Starting with the boycotts in China that resulted in depressed prices of major crops and progressing to major weather extremes in the province the past season will be remembered. Our region was effected dramatically. Early and late frosts resulted in delayed maturity, loss of yield, (dramatic in some cases) and lower grades in others. Another summer of low rainfall resulted in low yields while rainfall in September downgraded many crops and made for a difficult harvest. Though we were more fortunate than many regions of the Province in that in the end the majority of the crops were harvested…