News: Alberta Land Institute

October 27, 2015

Reversing the Auction: Conservation Auction Experiences in Australia

Since the arrival of Europeans in Australia, the country's landscape has changed significantly. Agricultural development led to the clearing of vast wooded areas, and grazing animals have taken a toll on many types of vegetation –– even young trees. As the Australian Government works to protect the country's environment for future generations, it faces a difficult question: what is the best way…

September 21, 2015

Benefits and Costs: Examining the Impact of Infrastructure Investment in Alberta's Irrigation Sector

Irrigation has played an important role in the development of Alberta since railways first arrived in the province. In the early years of the twentieth century, diverting water from rivers to farmland was considered a necessity for survival. Today, the demand for irrigation is less existential than economic: though only 4% of the province’s agricultural land is irrigated, it is responsible nearly…

July 23, 2015

Factors and Price: Investigating Agricultural Land Values in Alberta

In February of 2015, Statistics Canada identified two cities as Canada’s fastest-growers, and both are located in Alberta. Calgary and Edmonton both saw more than 3.3% population growth from July 2013 to July 2014, and the evidence of this expansion appears obvious to many people who live in the ‘Highway 2 corridor’ –– either in one of the cities, or near Highway 2, which connects them…

July 17, 2015

Fragmentation and Influence: ALI Research Team Publishes Project's First Paper

The Alberta Land Institute's three-year project Economic Evaluation of Farmland Conversion and Fragmentation in Alberta is examining the province's agricultural landscape. Led by Principal Investigators Scott Jeffrey and Brent Swallow, along with Co-Investigators Dr. Feng Qiu and Dr. Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa, this research is helping create a clearer understanding of the ways in which rapid population…

July 16, 2015

Responses To Change: Studying Reactions to Agricultural Land Conversion in Alberta's Capital Region

The Capital Region of Alberta includes Edmonton and its surrounding counties and municipalities –– an area in which conversion of land from agriculture to 'developed' is increasingly noticeable, because the population is growing at one of the highest rates in Canada. As people living in this area see a great deal of change occurring in a short period of time, what are their reactions, and how…