Rocky View County (RVC) council was presented with an annual report from the Agricultural Service Board (ASB) at a meeting on April 12, providing an update on some of the activities the board and the agricultural department have overseen over the past year as well as new projects for 2016.
“Basically, this board acts as an advisory body to council on agricultural matters affecting residents,” said Deputy Reeve Earl Solberg, one of the three council members who sit on the ASB. “We promote developing agricultural policies to meet the needs of the agricultural industry within the municipality. And not just the existing industry – our mission is to try and attract niche types of agricultural industry that may not exist in the County right now.”
According to Solberg, RVC’s board was formed in 1945 – the very first ag service board instituted in the province of Alberta. These boards are legislated by the Province, Solberg said, to enforce the weed control act and the agricultural pests act, as well as various other environmental programs as directed through the Provincial Government for the board to carry out.
Once a year, Solberg said, the board is required to present an update to council. This year’s report included a number of updates on ongoing programs, as well as a recommendation for council to approve an agreement with Crop Production Services (CPS) to continue crop trials on a section of currently unused County land.
“This past spring, they planted some barley and did applications of different fertilizers and other things to test the crop,” Solberg said. “They had very good success last year, and since the land is not required by RVC anytime soon, it would be useful for CPS to do some more in-depth work and trials.”
The agreement was approved unanimously by council to allow CPS a three-year term on the approximately 50 acres of land that will eventually be home to the new municipal building. According to Solberg, this will ultimately benefit producers within the county and Alberta as a whole.
“It’s a great experimental station for CPS to work on different formulations of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides as needed, and in some instances, even ways to combat bacteria and other things that could infect crops,” he said. “CPS has branches throughout the province, so whatever information they can gather from their trials on our site can hopefully be useful to other branches as well.”
According to Solberg, agriculture is still a “big operation” within RVC. With nearly one million acres of land within the County’s jurisdiction, Solberg said only 12 per cent is used for residential or commercial development.
“A huge portion of this county is agriculture and forestry,” he said. “We have a whole crew at our office and on this board who are dedicated to helping in any way they possibly can the people who produce agricultural products in RVC.”
