The Alberta Forage Industry Network is reviving Ropin’ the Web
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Alberta farmers looking for an online marketplace to buy and sell hay, equipment, livestock and other ag goods will have one again.
The Alberta Forage Industry Network (AFIN) received $355,000 through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership’s Risk Mitigation Program to build and host Farming the Web.
Farming the Web’s predecessor, Ropin’ the Web, went offline last year during the provincial election period.
Ropin’ the Web “got caught up in the last election where due to government communication (the website) couldn’t operate,” Devin Dreeshen, Alberta’s ag minister, told Farms.com. “Since then we’ve been trying to figure out a replacement for it.”
When Ropin’ the Web became unavailable, producers informed Alberta Agriculture of the tool’s importance.
In April 2019, Mountain View County’s agricultural service board sent a letter to then NDP Agriculture and Forestry Minister Oneil Carlier to voice its concerns with the website’s removal.
“Many farmers and customers rely on the General Store (part of the Ropin’ the Web site) for listings of various items for sale or wanted in Alberta and locations across the Prairies,” the letter said, MountainView Today reported. “Now farmers are being advised to use Facebook or other listing services in replacement. This is not an acceptable replacement to government service.”
Farmers also let Minister Dreeshen know they wanted the service back once he took office.
“During our Bill 6 consultations last summer, we heard that farmers really appreciated having that one-stop shop to get pricing information,” he said. “We think the AFIN is going to be able to do a better job (at building and hosting the site) than government and give farmers the information they can rely on.”
Farms.com has reached out to AFIN for comment.