Colleen Munro

SASKATOON – A former Canadian ambassador to Ethiopia, the Sudan and Djibouti says more open democracy is the key to agricultural sustainability, especially in the Third World. “Genuine democracy relates to communities and cultures,” David MacDonald told an audience of 75 in the first of the Klinck lecture series, sponsored by the Agricultural Institute of […] Read more

LLOYDMINSTER, Alta. — John Bennett brought the house down when he accepted the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association’s award for individual farm conservationist here by commenting: “I’ve gone from idiot to innovator in seven years.” That’s how long Bennett has been testing the tenets of no-till on his 1,000-acre farm south of Biggar, Sask. The bearded […] Read more

SASKATOON — It’s a sure bet Western Canadian farmers will plant more canola this year. The question is, how much more? Farmers confounded analysts, insiders and even Statistics Canada last year by planting 10.3 million acres of canola. That eclipsed the previous record acreage of 9.1 million. “Last year all of us analysts were totally […] Read more

LLOYDMINSTER, Alta. — Shelter belts increase yields by creating a better climate for crops to grow. Field shelter belts protect crops from the wind, reduce evaporation and increase three factors — relative humidity, average daytime temperature in a field and moisture available to the crop, John Kort of the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration told the […] Read more

SASKATOON — Canaryseed is going to be a popular choice as an alternative crop this spring as farmers try to get in on the rally they missed last fall. “The price levels offered in the past few months have been attracting a lot of attention,” said Cal Kelly, a Regina-area farmer and market analyst who […] Read more

LEROY, Sask. — Only the pigs were missing. On Feb. 4 Ivan and Sharon Stomp and family threw open the doors of the newest hog unit in Saskatchewan and 500 people, including the provincial minister of agriculture, came to look. Because of health restrictions, no hogs were in the buildings, so visitors were free to […] Read more

The nose counters with the United States department of agriculture were busier on Jan. 1 of this year than they were in 1993. They tallied the U.S. cattle herd at 101.75 million head, up one percent or 1.14 million head, from 1993. While that many more cattle would mean in the Canadian context a 10 […] Read more

SASKATOON — Hog prices appear to be entering the high part of their four-year cycle and that bodes well for 1994 prices. Jim Morris, manager of SPI Marketing in Saskatoon, predicted Index 100 hog prices will average $154.50 per hundred kilograms in 1994, compared to an average of $146.22 in 1993 and $125.22 in 1992. […] Read more

SASKATOON — The peak price of the current cattle cycle has “almost certainly” passed but that doesn’t mean prices are going to crash in the next year. Alberta Agriculture livestock analyst Ron Gietz predicts Canadian cattle prices will fall in 1994, mostly because the per capita supply of beef in the United States is going […] Read more

SASKATOON — Since farmers are losing a tax credit, equipment dealers are forecasting fewer sales this year. A business investment tax credit was introduced by the Conservative government in December 1992 and, despite lobbying by the industry, wasn’t extended into 1994. The credit allowed farmers to claim 10 percent of the value of new machinery […] Read more