TUGASKE, Sask. – Children who might normally wiggle in their seats sat quietly as Murray McWilliams and Darwin McClughan stood before them. They listened attentively to the men’s stories, clearly grasping the enormity of what had happened to them as a result of farm accidents. McWilliams, now 62, was just four when he was picked […] Read more
Karen Briere
Stories by Karen Briere
Cancer drug coverage Sask. farmer’s legacy
Keith Whyte, a Bengough, Sask., farmer who took his personal fight with cancer to the national stage, died April 23 in a hospital in Weyburn, Sask. Whyte was 64. He was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in June 2006 and fought successfully for coverage of the drug Avastin. By the time that happened in January 2008, […] Read more
Sask. packer closure temporary: XL
The temporary closure of the XL Foods plant in Moose Jaw, Sask., has many producers and cattle feeders wondering about whether the plant will ever reopen. XL Foods announced the closure of its slaughter plant last week with plans to reopen at the end of September. “The biggest concern is there’s no assurance once it […] Read more
Egg quota resolution sees Sask. quota double
An eight-year dispute over national quota allocation has ended with a unanimous resolution by the Egg Farmers of Canada to give Saskatchewan a bigger share. In exchange, Saskatchewan will drop all legal action it has taken in a bid to increase its quota. The province will receive 4.76 percent of all allocations, up from the […] Read more
Crown land lease rates increase
Farmers who lease cultivated crown land from the Saskatchewan government will pay 83 percent more this year. While some find that hard to swallow, agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud said the increase could have been worse because the formula to determine lease rates calculated a 97 percent hike. NDP agriculture critic Pat Atkinson said farmers find […] Read more
Sask. parents want busing plan review
A Saskatchewan Queen’s Bench justice has reserved his decision in the latest round of a long-standing busing dispute between parents and the Prairie Valley School Division. The dispute arose after the division closed the Glenavon school in 2007. The division said it would transport students to Montmartre as the next closest school but a group […] Read more
Sask. escapes flooding
While southern Manitoba deals with the second worst flood in recorded history, all is relatively quiet next door in Saskatchewan. Doug Johnson of the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority said spring runoff through the Souris River and Long Creek basins in the southeast has ended. “Things are good,” he said. “Inflows have dropped off. We’ve stopped spilling […] Read more
Agribition in the black
A small profit and big plans for next year marked Canadian Western Agribition’s annual meeting last week. The show announced profit of $18,080 on revenues of just more than $3 million, for the year ending Jan. 31, 2009. Chief executive officer Jason Pollock agreed the number is small by some standards but noted it’s much […] Read more
Couple pleased with sheep venture
GLENAVON, Sask. – Bleating lambs scamper around looking for their mothers while others nurse or snooze curled up to each other. On the other side of the corral fence, ewes due any time rest and wait. Lambing is in full swing in mid-March at Jeff and Janette Mish’s farm in southeastern Saskatchewan. About 200 Katahdin […] Read more
Lamb feedlot for sale
A for sale sign swings outside the entrance to Roy Leitch Livestock north of Regina. The lamb feedlot is empty and the owner says the days of feeding thousands of lambs there are over. “Things have changed,” Roy Leitch said. The demand for Canadian lamb is tremendous, he said, but it’s only for a specific […] Read more
