Future of agriculture in Alberta faces many challenges

May 12, 2022

The future of agriculture is as cloudy as producers wish the skies were.
Statistics Canada released its five-year agriculture census on Wednesday, and while it shows some positive growth indicators for the sector in Alberta, there are also some major challenges.

Agriculture has a long-term future problem amid a growing global demand for food.

The average age of a producer in Alberta has gone up 1.4 per cent to 56.5 years old. There are almost twice as many producers over the age of 55 (35,515) than under (21,680) — in fact, there are only 5,115 producers across all sectors under 35, a gap that has increased in the past five years.

“Farming is not an easy job, you have to be wearing a lot of hats,” said Tara Sawyer, chair of the Alberta Barley Commission. “To me, it takes a special sort of person and mindset that makes a really good farmer that cares about farm stewardship and understands the business side. It’s a high risk for entry, the high land value, the high cost of equipment, the high cost of inputs.”

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.