Editing Economy of Alberta (section)

==== Agriculture ====
[[File:Gartly Alberta Grain Elevator (9873577605).jpg|frameless|right]]
[[File:Red Barn (9242561429).jpg|frameless|right]]
[[File:Iconic Barn and Hay Bale - panoramio.jpg|frameless|right]]
[[File:Canola in Alberta Canada.jpg|frameless|right]]
{{See also|Agriculture in Canada}}
In the past, [[cattle]], [[horse]]s, and [[domestic sheep|sheep]] were reared in the southern prairie region on ranches or smaller holdings. Currently Alberta produces cattle valued at over $3.3 billion, as well as other livestock in lesser quantities. In this region [[irrigation]] is widely used. [[Wheat]], accounting for almost half of the $2 billion agricultural economy, is supplemented by [[canola]],<ref name="Canola" /> [[barley]], [[rye]], [[sugar beets]], and other [[mixed farming]]. In 2011, Alberta producers seeded an estimated total of {{convert|17900000000|acres|e9ha sqmi|abbr=off}} to [[spring wheat]], [[durum]], barley, oats, [[mixed grains]], [[triticale]], canola and [[dry peas]]. Of the total seeded area, 94 per cent was harvested as grains and [[oilseeds]] and six per cent as [[greenfeed]] and [[silage]].<ref>{{citation |url=http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/sdd14009 |title=Alberta 2011 Greenfeed and Silage Production Survey Results |date=2011 |work=Department of Agriculture, Government of Alberta}}</ref> [[Saudi Arabia]] is a major export target especially for wheat and processed potato products. SA having decided to phase out their own [[forage]] and [[cereal]] production, Alberta expects this to be an opportunity to fill [[livestock feed]] demand in the kingdom.<ref name="SA-Alberta">{{cite web | title=Saudi Arabia {{ndash}} Alberta Relations | date=2016 | url=http://open.alberta.ca/dataset/64be57f1-fa85-4e10-bd38-ca98564535a3/resource/7c281e43-7fc8-4239-a77a-ea49650a41bc/download/saudiarabia-ab.pdf | author=[[Alberta Ministry of Economic Development and Trade]]}}</ref>

[[Agriculture]] has a significant position in the province's economy. Over three million [[cattle]] are residents of the province at one time or another,<ref>{{citation |url=http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/rsb11006 |title=Alberta Livestock Inspections |date=August 2006 |work=Department of Agriculture, Government of Alberta |access-date=November 5, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110815131438/http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/rsb11006 |archive-date=August 15, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and Albertan beef has a healthy worldwide market. Although beef could also be a major export to Saudi Arabia, as with wheat and potatoes above, [[market access]] is lacking at the moment.<ref name="SA-Alberta" /> Nearly one half of all Canadian beef is produced in Alberta. Alberta is one of the prime producers of plains [[American Bison|buffalo (bison)]] for the consumer market. [[domestic sheep|Sheep]] for [[wool]] and [[Lamb (food)|lamb]] are also [[sheep farm|raised]].

[[Wheat]] and [[canola]] are primary farm crops, with Alberta leading the provinces in spring wheat production, with other [[cereal|grains]] also prominent. Much of the farming is dryland farming, often with fallow seasons interspersed with cultivation. Continuous cropping (in which there is no fallow season) is gradually becoming a more common mode of production because of increased profits and a reduction of soil erosion. Across the province, the once common [[grain elevator]] is slowly being lost as rail lines are decreased and farmers now truck the grain to central points.

Clubroot (''[[Plasmodiophora brassicae]]'') is a costly disease of ''[[Brassicaceae]]'' here including [[canola]].<ref name="Canola" /> In several experiments by Peng ''et al.'', out of [[fungicide]]s, [[biofungicide]]s, [[inoculation]] with [[beneficial microbe]]s, [[cultivar resistance]], and [[crop rotation]], only [[crop disease resistance|genetic resistance]] combined with more than two years rotation worked {{endash}} ''susceptible'' cultivars rotated with other crops did not produce enough improvement.<ref name="Canola">
   {{Unbulleted list citebundle
      |{{*}} {{cite journal | date=2014 | volume=36 | issue=sup1 | publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] ([[Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada]]) | journal=[[Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology]] | issn=0706-0661 | last1=Peng | first1=Gary | last2=Lahlali | first2=Rachid | last3=Hwang | first3=Sheau-Fang | last4=Pageau | first4=Denis | last5=Hynes | first5=Russell K. | last6=McDonald | first6=Mary Ruth | last7=Gossen | first7=Bruce D. | last8=Strelkov | first8=Stephen E. | title=Crop rotation, cultivar resistance, and fungicides/biofungicides for managing clubroot (''Plasmodiophora brassicae'') on canola | doi=10.1080/07060661.2013.860398 | pages=99–112 | bibcode=2014CaJPP..36S..99P | s2cid=85013123}}
      |{{*}} {{cite journal | date=2014 | volume=36 | issue=sup1 | publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] ([[Canadian Phytopathological Society]]) | journal=[[Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology]] | issn=0706-0661 | last1=Hwang | first1=S.-F. | last2=Howard | first2=R. J. | last3=Strelkov | first3=S. E. | last4=Gossen | first4=B. D. | last5=Peng | first5=G. | title=Management of clubroot (''Plasmodiophora brassicae'') on canola (''Brassica napus'') in western Canada | doi=10.1080/07060661.2013.863806 | pages=49–65 | bibcode=2014CaJPP..36S..49H | s2cid=85393051}}
      |{{*}} {{cite journal | year=2018 | volume=101 | publisher=[[Elsevier]] ([[European Society for Agronomy]]) | last1=Hegewald | journal=[[European Journal of Agronomy]] | issn=1161-0301 | first1=Hannes | last2=Wensch-Dorendorf | first2=Monika | last3=Sieling | first3=Klaus | last4=Christen | first4=Olaf | title=Impacts of break crops and crop rotations on oilseed rape productivity: A review | doi=10.1016/j.eja.2018.08.003 | pages=63–77 | bibcode=2018EuJAg.101...63H | s2cid=92683017}}
      |{{*}} {{cite journal | issue=1 | date=2018 | volume=9 | publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] | journal=[[Virulence (journal)|Virulence]] | issn=2150-5594 | last1=Pérez-López | first1=Edel | last2=Waldner | first2=Matthew | last3=Hossain | first3=Musharaf | last4=Kusalik | first4=Anthony J. | last5=Wei | first5=Yangdou | last6=Bonham-Smith | first6=Peta C. | last7=Todd | first7=Christopher D. | title=Identification of ''Plasmodiophora brassicae'' effectors — A challenging goal | doi=10.1080/21505594.2018.1504560 | pages=1344–1353 | pmid=30146948 | pmc=6177251 | s2cid=52090181}}
      |{{*}} {{cite journal | publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] ([[Canadian Phytopathological Society]]) | journal=[[Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology]] | last1=Gossen | first1=Bruce D. | last2=Carisse | first2=Odile | last3=Kawchuk | first3=Lawrence M. | last4=Van Der Heyden | first4=Hervé | last5=McDonald | first5=Mary Ruth | title=Recent changes in fungicide use and the fungicide insensitivity of plant pathogens in Canada | volume=36 | issue=3 | date=2014-07-03 | issn=0706-0661 | doi=10.1080/07060661.2014.925506 | pages=327–340 | bibcode=2014CaJPP..36..327G | s2cid=85040709}}
   }}
</ref>

Alberta is the leading [[beekeeping]] province of Canada, with some beekeepers wintering [[Beehive (beekeeping)|hive]]s indoors in specially designed barns in southern Alberta, then migrating north during the summer into the [[Peace River (Alberta)|Peace River]] valley where the season is short but the working days are long for [[Western honey bee|honeybee]]s to produce honey from [[clover]] and [[fireweed]]. [[Hybrid (biology)|Hybrid]] [[canola]] also requires [[bee]] [[pollination]], and some beekeepers service this need.