Rust never sleeps. That’s particularly true when it comes to cereal rust disease that can cause yield losses in wheat and barley. Growers in Western Canada are no strangers to cereal rust diseases, which include stem rust, leaf rust and stripe rust. Of the three types of rust, stripe rust is the most recent arrival […] Read more
Brian Cross
Stories by Brian Cross
Sask. craft brewer makes beer from durum
Next time you’re enjoying a tasty pasta dish made with Canadian durum, why not wash it down with a durum beer? Last month, Saskatchewan-based craft brewer 9 Mile Legacy Brewing introduced its newest beer — No. 1 Durum Wheat Ale — made with durum grown in southwestern Saskatchewan. 9 Mile co-founder Garrett Pederson said it […] Read more
U.S. soybean supplies likely to continue feeling the pressure
American soybean ending stocks, which were drawn down to bottom-of-the-barrel levels last year, are unlikely to be much higher at the end of the current production year despite a projected 6.6 percent increase in production. That’s according to Refinitiv, a global provider of financial and market data based in New York and London. In a […] Read more
Plastic chemical container recycling program on track
Canadian farmers and ranchers returned more than 5.5 million plastic-based chemical and fertilizer jugs for recycling in 2020, roughly matching the number of returns made in 2019. The figure was contained in a 2020 annual report prepared by Cleanfarms, a non-profit environmental stewardship organization focused on managing and recycling agricultural waste products such as chemical […] Read more
As grain-handling systems increase in size, so do hazards
In an ideal world, moving grain should be a positive and stress-free task, regardless of whether you’re moving grain off the field and into storage, or out of storage and into the elevator. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. In today’s world of big bushels, super-sized storage bins and high-capacity handling equipment, things can go […] Read more
SaskPower urges caution when moving equipment
Saskatchewan’s publicly owned electrical company is reminding farmers and farm workers to look up and live when moving augers and other grain handling and farm equipment. SaskPower said working around overhead power lines without proper care and attention can result in serious injury or even death. Each year in Saskatchewan, more than 300 incidents occur […] Read more
CN takes inside track in bid for KCS
Canada’s largest railway appears to have gained the inside track in an ongoing battle to acquire the assets of Missouri-based rail company Kansas City Southern, at least for the time being. Last week, Montreal-based railway Canadian National Railway announced it had entered a definitive merger agreement with KCS. CN’s May 21 announcement is the latest […] Read more
Canola crusher planned for southern Saskatchewan
Another company has announced plans to build a new canola processing facility in Saskatchewan. Ceres Global Ag Corp. was expected to announce plans on May 25 to construct a $385 million canola crushing facility at Northgate, Sask., about 250 kilometres southeast of Regina. The proposed state-of-the-art facility will have the capacity to process between 1.1 […] Read more
Fee cut proposal floated at grain commission
Canadian Grain Commission says the reduction would save grain industry stakeholders nearly $55 million over 2 1/2 years
The Canadian Grain Commission is proposing to cut fees for some services in an effort to bring service fee revenue in line with program delivery costs. The proposed fee reductions, which would be applied to four different services including outward weighing and inspection of ocean bound grain vessels, are also aimed at stemming the growth […] Read more
Sask. college offers course for farm workers
The program introduced by Parkland College is aimed at students with little or no previous experience working on a farm
Parkland College in Yorkton, Sask., has launched a new program to address what some consider a chronic shortage of farm labourers in Western Canada. Earlier this year, Parkland College started a pilot program called the Introduction to Farm Hand course. The program, which offered hands-on introductory training related to farm machinery operation and general farm […] Read more
