Diane Rogers

MARSDEN, Sask. – It was a family decision that brought the Vanderloops from Holland to Alberta four years ago. And it was the kids again who confirmed for Frans and Helen Vanderloop that they should move their dairy to Saskatchewan. Helen said that in the Netherlands they milked 50 cows and raised 300 hogs on […] Read more

EDMONTON – Fatal crashes on the Canadian Prairies are a testosterone problem, says a former director of traffic safety for the American Automobile Association. Mark Lee Edwards told a national rural health and safety conference here Nov. 6 that road deaths are usually “young intoxicated, unbelted males driving pickup trucks too fast after dark.” While […] Read more

Rubbing ideas together can create a spark for rural communities, says the organizer of a youth forum held Oct. 24 in Alliston, Ont. Kathy Kaye of the Ontario Rural Council said 40 people from ages 18 to 29 met before the council’s annual conference to discuss how to get young people to stay in or […] Read more

A moment of guilty pleasure turned into a kind gesture for the people of New York City. Cheryl Boyle of Brackley Beach, P.E.I., came up with the idea while at home watching news of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. “It just clued in that this was live. I was […] Read more

Ken Imhoff says Canadians now see peoples’ faces when they hear about agricultural problems. He thinks some of the credit should go to the nine-year-old Saskatchewan Farm Stress Line, which he manages. “Across the province and across the country, there’s a growing awareness between agriculture and the production end, with the human dimension.” While he […] Read more

MUENSTER, Sask. – Wendy Moellenbeck admits it’s unusual that half of her Grade 12 classmates are still living in the central Saskatchewan area from which they graduated in the late 1990s. “It’s a lifestyle you have to choose,” said Moellenbeck, who acknowledges most young people wander away in search of jobs or education. She took […] Read more

MUENSTER, Sask. – The solutions to revitalizing Canadian rural communities all involve using local resources, said three Americans at a conference here last week. The best jobs in a rural community are those created from within, say two rural sociologists. Cornelia and Jan Flora of Iowa State University have studied rural communities in Latin America, […] Read more

Members of the British Columbia Farm Women’s Network were kept busy listening to speakers from 8 a.m. until after 10 p.m. at their Oct. 13 seminar in 100 Mile House, B.C. Helen Horn said the meeting was originally scheduled for Oct. 12-14, but a lack of people forced organizers to squeeze the meeting into one […] Read more

Theresa Whalen-Ruiter may have a winner on her hands. As farm safety co-ordinator for the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, she has distributed 70,000 copies of the group’s latest safety campaign poster and is getting lots of requests for it. “That’d be a wonderful problem,” she said when asked if a second printing run might be […] Read more

Farm chemical residues found in drinking water sources in Davidson, Sask., are below the allowable guidelines for other pesticides, says a provincial government official. Sam Ferris, manager of the provincial environment department’s standards branch, said there are no standards for the two chemicals found in three water samples taken by organic farming advocate Elmer Laird […] Read more