Alberta Canola Producers Commission Regulatory Review

Aug 03, 2023

In July 2020, changes were made to the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act (MAPA) that provides authority to Alberta’s Marketing Boards and Commissions to develop bylaws. In 2022, Marketing Council scheduled Alberta Canola to complete our Bylaw Implementation Project, which divided our current Marketing Plan Regulation into new Bylaws and new Marketing Plan Regulation. Our Bylaws were approved at Alberta Canola’s Annual General Meeting on January 17, 2023. However, as these are Alberta Canola’s first Bylaws, they do not become official until the Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation approves and files the new Marketing Plan Regulation, which is expected to come into effect this summer.

During the Bylaw Implementation Project, the Alberta Canola Producers Marketing Regulation was set to expire May 31, 2023. Our board requested a one-year extension to ensure we could do a thorough regulatory review. Working with Marketing Council staff, Alberta Canola proposes a few minor changes to align language between other commission regulations, align expiry dates to other Alberta Canola regulations, improve clarity of provisions, and remove outdated references. These minor changes are outlined in the Project Summary.

The Alberta Canola Producers Commission encourages all canola growers in Alberta to review the Marketing Regulation Project Summary and provide feedback to the Commission.

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Video: How American Farmers Harvest 1.15 Billion Pounds of Sunflowers

Across the open plains of North Dakota and South Dakota, sunflower fields turn the American landscape into a sea of gold. In this farming documentary, we go inside modern sunflower farming to see how farmers plant, grow, harvest, clean, dry, process, and transform sunflower seeds into valuable products used every day.

In 2024, American farmers harvested about 1.15 billion pounds of sunflowers. This video follows the full journey from warm spring planting to combine harvesting, seed cleaning, storage, oil extraction, refining, roasting, packaging, and animal feed production.

You will see how sunflower seeds are processed into cooking oil, roasted snacks, bakery ingredients, birdseed, livestock feed, and useful byproducts. From golden fields to modern processing plants, this is the story of how a beautiful flower becomes one of America’s important oilseed crops.

Watch until the end to discover how sunflower farming connects farmers, machines, factories, food production, and sustainable agriculture.