Agriculture in the city

Even in the heart of major centres across the province, agricultural activities surround us and have an impact on our daily lives.

Story by Phoebe Dey  •  Illustration by Nathalie Dion

A few blocks in one direction is a major mall. Head the other way and you are minutes from downtown. But what is in the middle of these urban hot spots in south Edmonton might surprise many city slickers who drive by it every day without realizing what they're passing. It's agriculture in the city and it's happening more than people think.

Miles away from any country roads sits the Edmonton Research Station, only one example of how rural has infiltrated the city limits. This University of Alberta facility is home to seven different units, including swine, dairy, poultry, crops and a seed mill on 300 acres of land. "Re-search runs the gamut from primary production of growing cereal grains to biomedical products," said manager Dr. Barry Irving. "It's definitely not the traditional idea of a farm."

Neither is the Crop Diversification Centre North, a research station belonging to Alberta Agriculture Food and Rural Development. Spanning 340 acres in the northeast corner of Edmonton, the site is home to greenhouses, laboratories and extensive irrigation systems, all on prime growing land. Its diverse initiatives include investigating non-wood alternatives - hemp, flax and wheat - for the pulp and paper industries, starting a natural health product crop and exploring how to maintain Alberta's reputation for pure quality honey while keeping it safe from chemical residue, to name a few projects.

And if the public wants to sample agricultural activities up close and personal within city boundaries, several opportunities exist. Take Northlands Park in Edmonton. For 32 years, the city has hosted the Canadian Finals Rodeo and is taking agriculture closer to the city with its new River City Roundup festival, which features an urban cattle drive, chili cook-off, cabarets and other cowboy events. Throughout the year the park touches on all aspects of agriculture with programs that include a pedigree seed show, the Alberta Farm and Ranch Show and AMAZE-ing Agriculture, another new event that offers an interactive learning experience using a maze concept.

To the south, Calgary's hold on agriculture spans much further than its infamous Stampede. Aside from the two wild weeks in July when locals and visitors don cowboy hats and Wrang-lers to cheer on chuckwagons and bronc riders, Stampede Park showcases agriculture all year long. It is home to the historic 106-year-old Calgary Bull Sale, the Canadian Horseshoeing Championship and Aggie Days - an educational expo that allows kids to gain hands-on experience in activities such as sheep shearing, cow milking or rope making.

And while making the connection between grain farming and rural life might be obvious, many people may not realize the impact agriculture has on innovative biotechnology products. One such company making this link in the heart of the city is Calgary's SemBioSys Genetics, which uses its patented technology to develop and commercialize protein-based pharmaceuticals and non-pharmaceutical products. "Our technology transforms the use of plants by using plant oilbodies to make protein products, like insulin, available to more patients less expensively. By transferring the production of those protein products from bacteria and animal cell cultures to plants, we can better offer new life-saving drugs," explains Andrew Baum, the president and CEO of SemBioSys.

Edmonton's Ceapro reaches out to the fields as well. Using natural botanical extracts, the biotech company has developed a line of innovative ingredients and formulations to enhance both human and animal health. These products include shampoos, wound care products and a diabetes test meal - a new tool for the fast detection of type 2 diabetes. Led by founding scientist Dr. Mark Redmond, the urban-based company relies on seed varieties of oats to produce its novel advances in health sciences.

Agriculture has also left its imprint on food processing companies that couldn't do business without it. They number in the hundreds and cover the Alberta landscape, even on busy city streets. Kinnikinnick Foods, for example, offers one of the largest selections of gluten-free foods in the world. Smack in the middle of Edmonton, the company caters to people with special dietary requirements such as those with celiac disease, diabetes or food allergies.

Lethbridge's Canbra Foods is another illustration of rural meeting urban. Literally. When it opened in 1957 as Western Canadian Seed Processors, it sat outside the city limits on a 24.6-acre spread. Within decades, the city surrounded it. In 1962, it became the first fully integrated oilseed processing centre in Western Canada and now exports canola products to more than 13 countries around the world.

Calgary hasn't been left behind. It is home to many food processing companies, including XL Foods, a beef processor with a long history in the province. Its tentacles touch every step of the beef supply chain, yet it sits squarely in the southeast corner of a metropolitan city, miles away from the rural pastures where cattle are raised.