Alberta Farm Group Says Budget 2026 Must Put Profit First

The Alberta Federation of Agriculture (AFA) says Budget 2026's food system spending, including a $3.2-billion National Food Security Strategy and a $1-billion Food-Link Fund, only matters if farmers earn sustainable returns.

AFA wants farm profitability made an explicit policy objective, plus stronger business risk management, better AgriStability compensation and a permanent increase to the interest-free portion of the Advance Payments Program.

AFA is asking why agriculture is excluded from the proposed $15-million Canada Growth Incentive and wants tariff relief on imported machinery, parts and ag tech that can't reasonably be sourced in Canada.

Source: Farms.com, Nov. 11, 2026

The Alberta Federation of Agriculture says Budget 2026 has real opportunities for farmers, but the test is whether producers actually become more profitable. Executive director Aaron Stein's line: food security has no foundation if farmers "cannot earn sustainable returns."

The pieces AFA likes are mostly built after the farm gate: a $3.2-billion National Food Security Strategy (more places to sell, more domestic processing, fewer imports), a $1-billion Food-Link Fund for distribution infrastructure, $1 billion in FCC financing for food processing, and a $750-million controlled environment ag program.

Also welcomed: the intergenerational rollover expanding to nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews from Jan. 1, 2027, capital investment measures for equipment, and $151.5 million over five years for Temporary Foreign Worker Program reforms.

Ottawa built the food system a lovely new shop, with a big door, nice lighting, and a fresh coat of paint. AFA wants to know who's paying for the truck.

Its argument: more credit is not a fix when margins are thin, it's just a bigger shovel for a deeper hole. So AFA wants profitability written in as an explicit policy goal with measurable outcomes, which in Ottawa terms is roughly as radical as asking the snowplow to come before noon.

The wish list: stronger business risk management, better AgriStability compensation, a permanent increase to the interest-free portion of the Advance Payments Program, and price and margin transparency from farm gate to grocery shelf.

And a pointed question: why is agriculture excluded from the proposed $15-million Canada Growth Incentive? AFA would also like tariff relief on imported machinery, parts and ag tech when nobody in Canada makes the thing you need.

New processors only help if they compete for your grain. AFA says it wants these investments to increase competition for commodities and improve farm-gate prices. A food hub in the city does nothing for you if it buys from the same two players you already sell to.

Biofuel is a two-sided coin. AFA says Clean Fuel Regulations changes could boost demand for canola and grain feedstocks, but warns about effects on livestock feed supplies and farm fuel costs. Mixed operations get to cheer and wince at the same time.

The rollover is the most concrete thing on the table right now. If your succession plan runs through a niece or nephew, the Jan. 1, 2027 start date is worth a call to your accountant before the new year. Our rollover explainer has the details.

The Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) paid farmers with eligible claims against Grasslands Brokerage & Consulting Ltd., a Regina grain dealer, 68% of what they were owed, drawn from the company's security under the Safeguards for Grain Farmers Program.

Only two claims qualified. Other farmers are also owed money, but the CGC says those deliveries fell outside the program's eligibility period or involved grain not regulated under the Canada Grain Act. Their compensation: a polite explanation.

The CGC revoked the company's grain dealer licence on July 10. Grasslands is still operating, just without a CGC licence, which is a bit like a restaurant staying open after the health inspector takes the sign off the wall.

Freshness disclosure: the CGC's own payout notice is dated Oct. 1. Farms.com picked it up Nov. 11. News travels at the speed of a government webpage, so this is a reminder, not a scoop.

So what: producer protection only covers licensed companies, CGC-regulated grains and deliveries inside the eligibility window. Even when it pays, it may not pay in full. Check the CGC's licensed company list before the truck leaves the yard, not after the cheque doesn't.

Windstorms with gusts above roughly 100 km/h piled tumbleweeds into southern Alberta communities, including Calgary and Lethbridge. Some south Calgary residents found their back alleys full on Monday, with garage doors, garbage bins and green space buried.

Lethbridge sent large crews to clear streets and yards, and the city reported collecting hundreds of kilograms of the things. Nothing says "growing season's over" like a municipal crew wrestling a shrub that fights back.

The culprits are usually kochia or Russian thistle, two Eurasian weeds that got here more than a century ago. Kochia was imported in the late 1800s on purpose, as an ornamental shrub. Russian thistle snuck in with flaxseed shipments. One was invited, one crashed the party, and both have outstayed their welcome by about 125 years.

Olds College plant science instructor Christine Fulkerth calls them "specialists in moving their seeds across the land." They snap off at the stem and roll, seeding as they go.

A single tumbleweed can scatter hundreds of thousands of seeds. Every one that bounced across your field this week was planting next year's problem.

Kochia is becoming resistant to herbicides such as glyphosate. Dead weeds also clog harvest machinery, compete with crops for moisture, and pile up as fire hazards.

Neither plant is regulated under Alberta's Weed Control Act. Municipalities can upgrade a weed's classification, but none have done it for these two. Our take, not the source's: if this week's pile-ups don't change that, it's hard to picture what would.

The Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association (MFGA) inducted three people into its Wall of Fame Class of 2026, announced at its Ninth Annual Regenerative Agriculture Conference in Brandon. That brings the wall to 16 names.

Don Campbell, Meadow Lake, Sask.: rancher and holistic management instructor. MFGA says many producers credit him and his wife, Bev, with the turning point in their grazing operations. High praise in a business where most advice gets a squint and a "we'll see."

Ian Grossart, Brandon Hills area, Man.: his family has farmed southeast of Brandon since 1879, and parts of the native prairie are still intact nearly 150 years after homesteading. While Alberta's imported weeds were blowing into town, the Grossarts' grass stayed exactly where it was supposed to.

Jacques Saquet, Laurier, Man.: retired from the MFGA board this year after a key role in crop insurance and policy work. He spent 27 years with Canada's national parks system, then became a bison producer and spent six years as the Manitoba Bison Association's MFGA rep.

So what: MFGA chair Zack Koscielny says the class highlights mentorship, stewardship and policy work. For anyone running cattle on grass, that's the stuff that actually keeps pastures productive, and it rarely gets a plaque.