The Saskatchewan NDP is calling for a $100 per acre payment from the federal and provincial governments to help farmers who can’t seed.Leader Dwain Lingenfelter toured northeastern Saskatchewan earlier this week and said farm families are facing a financial disaster.As many as five million acres could go unseeded this year, he added.”Farm families have already […] Read more
Karen Briere
Stories by Karen Briere
Farmers’ markets decry rule changes
The Saskatchewan Farmers’ Market Co-operative says restricting what vendors can sell is the wrong way to go.Instead, the Saskatchewan government should open up the rules to allow more products to be bought and sold, said farmers’ market co-op vice-president Joni James.She said the co-op, which represents about 20 markets, had no input into proposed guidelines […] Read more
Petition urges settlement on 2005 BSE lawsuit
Seven years ago, Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association members gathered at their annual meeting in Yorkton in shock over the recent discovery of BSE in Canada.Next week, they gather in Moose Jaw with no resolution to a class action lawsuit launched in 2005 and designed to compensate Canadian cattle producers for lost income. The lawsuit alleges […] Read more
Stop the rain is June refrain
By this time of year, farmers in southern Saskatchewan are usually near the end of seeding and looking forward to June sunshine to help their crops grow.But this year, they are watching the rain fall and fall, and fall some more.The Avonlea area south of Regina, for example, received more than 50 millimetres of rain […] Read more
Bounty program claims 71,000 coyotes in Saskatchewan
The Saskatchewan government paid hunters and landowners $1.5 million to kill 71,000 coyotes during its pilot control program.That number surpassed agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud’s expectations and far exceeded the estimates provided during the program’s November 2009 to March 2010 run.In a typical year, normal hunting and trapping kills about 35,000 coyotes. In late March Bjornerud […] Read more
Western premiers eager to improve Asian trade
The three western premiers attempted to resolve two agricultural trade issues during a recent trip to China and Japan.Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall said canola was a dominant subject of discussion in both countries, particularly concerns about blackleg in Canadian exports.They also addressed restrictions on Canadian beef in Japan.The trade mission was the first by the […] Read more
Safety radio system will link rural Sask. emergency services
As a raging forest fire forced rural residents from their homes near Prince Albert, Sask., last month, officials were in Regina announcing a new common radio system for emergency personnel in similar situations.By the end of this year, the Provincial Public Safety Telecommunications Network will link thousands of Saskatchewan police, fire and emergency medical personnel. […] Read more
Sask. takes steps to ease border crossing for Alberta cattle owners
Saskatchewan is making it easier for cattle to move across the Alberta border for summer grazing.Few cattle that move west ever return to Saskatchewan; most are headed for slaughter in Alberta.In comparison, more than 20,000 cattle from northwest Alberta in particular spend the summer in Saskatchewan.Cameron Wilk, provincial field services manager with Saskatchewan Agriculture, said […] Read more
Cattle producers successfully paying back BSE loans
Saskatchewan producers who borrowed government guaranteed money during the BSE crisis paid back most of the taxpayers’ money, according to information from the agriculture ministry.Assistance offered through the province’s livestock loan guarantee program between October 2003 and January 2004 resulted in 2,749 loans worth $35.5 million.”The producer went to the bank and the loans were […] Read more
Crop insurance deadlines extended
Saskatchewan crop insurance seeding deadlines have been extended due to excess rain and moisture this spring.Producers in west-central, Moose Jaw and Estevan regions have until June 20 to seed and insure their crops.Full yield loss coverage will be available for all crops, except chickpeas, seeded by June 15 in the rest of the province. However, […] Read more
