Pressure is mounting on the Prairie governments to ante up their share of AgriStability program enhancements. Farm organizations lined up behind federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and Jim Carr, minister responsible for the Prairies, after they publicly pleaded last week with the three provinces to say whether they would agree to removing the reference margin […] Read more
Karen Briere
Stories by Karen Briere
Hail hit Sask. farmers hard last year
Saskatchewan Municipal Hail Insurance paid $62 million to producers last year, president Wayne Black told the recent Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities conference. That amount comes from 5,297 claims. “It hailed every day throughout the month of July,” said Black. Early that month, the Assiniboia region was hard hit and crops didn’t recover well because […] Read more
Regina wins bid for Water Agency
The City of Regina and several academic institutions have announced a bid to bring the new Canada Water Agency to the city. Regina mayor Sandra Masters, along with Economic Development Regina, the heads of University of Regina, First Nations University of Canada, SaskPolytech and the File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council, said Regina is the obvious […] Read more
Southeastern Saskatchewan biodiesel plant
A group of private investors is planning to build a renewable diesel plant in southeastern Saskatchewan. Josh Gustafson, chief executive officer of Covenant Energy, said this would be the first stand-alone hydrogenation-derived renewable diesel facility in Canada and it could begin production in the second half of 2023. The plant would have capacity to produce […] Read more
Sask. couple ‘flip cows’ to make a living
On the Farm: Jocelyn and Garret Poletz usually average 400 to 500 cows at one time and this winter had about 1,000
The whirlwind of the last few years belies the patience it took for Garret and Jocelyn Poletz to get where they are. Establishing their own cattle operation south of Biggar, Sask., about halfway to Rosetown, was a process of making plans and then changing them. Following the arrival of three daughters, three different houses and […] Read more
Carbon tax ruled constitutional
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that the federal carbon tax is constitutional. The court said today it had dismissed an appeal by several provinces. In a 6-3 split, the court said that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is “a matter of national concern.” Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan had challenged the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing […] Read more
Carbon offsets for grassland pilot and rancher profit
A new two-year pilot program will examine how ranchers can generate carbon offsets in, and revenue from, conserved grasslands. To generate carbon offsets, landowners will need to protect their grassland, but they have a choice of an easement, conservation agreement, servitude or covenant. The Retaining Canada’s Grasslands Using Carbon Offset Markets project was developed by […] Read more
Canada Water Agency bid by Regina
The City of Regina and several academic institutions have announced a bid to bring the new Canada Water Agency to the city. Regina mayor Sandra Masters, along with Economic Development Regina, the heads of University of Regina, First Nations University of Canada, SaskPolytech and the File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council, said Regina is the obvious […] Read more
Sask. RMs get good news-bad news message
Province warns rural municipalities that while infrastructure funding is coming, future revenue sharing will be down
Rural municipalities received good news and bad from the Saskatchewan government last week. New funding is on its way to help with infrastructure projects but government relations minister Don McMorris warned that revenue sharing will be down in the future. The province commits .75 percent of PST revenue to municipal revenue sharing, based on previous […] Read more
Below normal runoff expected in Sask.
An updated spring runoff report in Saskatchewan continues to show significant portions of the grain belt are expected to see below normal runoff. More snow or rain will change that situation, but for now conditions suggest a dry spring except for a few areas where runoff will be near normal. Those include a small pocket […] Read more
