MOOSE JAW, Sask. — Dave and Deb Spooner say they are overrun with coyotes and aren’t being properly compensated for the calves that they’ve lost. The livestock producers from Qu’Appelle, Sask., said the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp., which administers the province’s compensation program, doesn’t pay out on every animal found in similar circumstances and doesn’t […] Read more
Karen Briere
Stories by Karen Briere
Dairy could struggle under free trade
Dairy farmers might have escaped immediate pain under the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but an assistant economics professor says they need to think about how they operate under new trading rules. They have reciprocal access but might not be able to take advantage of that, said Trevor Tombe of the University of Calgary. “Unfortunately for a lot […] Read more
Prof sees long-ranging benefits from trade deal
China has passed Canada as the United States’ largest trading partner, making trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership more important, says Sylvain Charlebois, a professor at the University of Guelph’s Food Institute. Trade is about leveraging commodities, he said. “If you actually start trading with a country, eventually that country will end up buying other […] Read more
TPP deal has good news, bad news
Early assessments of the Trans-Pacific Partnership text show dairy imports into Canada could be higher than expected. However, stakeholders say they need more time to examine the details. The text was made public Nov. 5, a month after the trade agreement covering 40 percent of the world’s gross domestic product and 800 million people was […] Read more
For sale: 600,000 acres of Sask. farmland
The Saskatchewan government is once again offering crown land for sale, this time with both a carrot and a stick. Agriculture minister Lyle Stewart said Nov. 4 that the province wants to sell its remaining 600,000 acres of land with low ecological value, including land under cultivation or land that was previously cultivated. Current leaseholders […] Read more
Sask. RMs get new rules for land annexations
Land annexations by Saskatchewan municipalities typically go well, says government relations minister Jim Reiter, but every so often they don’t. New guidelines introduced at last week’s Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities midterm convention are designed to help municipal governments reach agreement and determine appropriate financial compensation for annexations. A committee of ministry staff, SARM and […] Read more
Sask. minister vows more ag investment
Saskatchewan agriculture minister Lyle Stewart has urged rural municipalities to prepare for more agricultural investment and diversification. In a strong message last week to the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, he said the province has to capture more agricultural value, and to do that it needs more investment. Saskatchewan competes with other jurisdictions across North […] Read more
Prof sees long-ranging benefits from TPP
China has passed Canada as the United States’ largest trading partner, making trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership more important, says Sylvain Charlebois, a professor at the University of Guelph’s Food Institute. Trade is about leveraging commodities, he said. “If you actually start trading with a country, eventually that country will end up buying other […] Read more
Brand inspectors lack power
MOOSE JAW, Sask. — Producers at a Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association district meeting here want brand inspectors to have more power when it comes to dealing with cattle theft. They say they don’t get enough help from the RCMP. District 2 director Philip Lynn said the board and the RCMP met after the SCA annual meeting […] Read more
Sask. gov’t to sell Crown land to leaseholders
Saskatchewan has reintroduced a program to encourage the sale of eligible agricultural Crown land to current leaseholders. The incentive program will provide a 15-percent discount on sales until March 31, 2016. That drops to 10 percent on April 1 and then five percent on Jan. 1, 2017. This is similar to a program from November […] Read more
