Agricultural trade and opportunities will figure prominently in the first major joint trade mission to China and Japan by the three western provinces under a new economic agreement. The premiers of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan met in Regina April 30 to sign the New West Partnership, an agreement to reduce interprovincial trade barriers and […] Read more
Karen Briere
Stories by Karen Briere
Initiative promotes on-farm technology
Sixty-nine projects will receive funding from the second round of a federal-provincial program designed to help Saskatchewan farmers decide what research fits on their farms. Deputy agriculture minister Alanna Koch announced $473,000 for the projects under the Agricultural Demonstration of Practices and Technologies (ADOPT) program. The projects, which are taking place this summer, are led […] Read more
Pushing rotations increases risk of blackleg
Canadian canola growers have been able to keep blackleg at bay for the past 15 years by following strict rotations and growing resistant varieties. Recent research shows the importance of adhering to that practice. Randy Kutcher, a research scientist at Agriculture Canada’s research centre in Melfort, Sask., said the blackleg pathogen is evolving so that […] Read more
Water delivery more than turning on taps
SaskWater minister Nancy Heppner says the government is working to get more water into the province’s dry southwest, but people have to be prepared to pay for it. “Water has been undervalued,” she said after releasing the crown corporation’s annual report last week. Acting president Mart Cram agreed that people don’t always see water’s worth. […] Read more
Sask. wildlife habitat changes spark controversy
Saskatchewan’s environment minister says legislation that could see crown land taken out of wildlife habitat protection and sold to the producers who lease it should pass this session despite recent controversy. Nancy Heppner last week apologized to conservationists who said they hadn’t been fully consulted about changes to the Wildlife Habitat Protection Act. But after […] Read more
Sask. grower continues fight over poor canola
SHAUNAVON, Sask. – Ben Lewans said he is set to take his three-year battle with Viterra and Bayer Crop Science to the courtroom after the two companies turned down a mediated settlement. The 64-year-old Shaunavon, Sask., farmer sued after his 2007 canola crop emerged poorly and eventually yielded seven bushels per acre. Surrounding fields yielded […] Read more
Sask. makes slow progress changing weed act
Proposed changes to Saskatchewan’s weed control laws are slowly making their way through the legislative process. The Weed Control Act was introduced last November but still has not made it to the committee stage. The act would replace the Noxious Weeds Act of 1984. Agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud has said the update is long overdue […] Read more
Watershed official steps up
Wayne Dybvig has been named acting president of the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority. The vice-president of operations takes on the post after Alan Parkinson stepped down to become director of Agriculture Canada’s regional adaptation and practice change division. Dybvig’s career in water management spans more than 30 years with the Alberta, Saskatchewan and federal governments.
Saskatchewan clubroot report promising
Sixty Saskatchewan field samples taken last fall to test for clubroot have come back negative, and canola growers would like to keep it that way. “The strategy that we’re recommending would prevent it,” said Faye Dokken-Bouchard, the provincial plant disease specialist who heads the Saskatchewan Clubroot Initiative, which last year developed a clubroot management plan […] Read more
Agribition takes stock; fall details ironed out
Canadian Western Agribition is counting itself lucky to have turned a small profit in 2009. Attendance was down, but the annual Regina show stayed in the black with a profit of $1,361 on revenue of $3,050,237 for the year ending Jan. 31. Attendance dropped to 136,400 from 142,500 in 2008. President Marilyn Charlton, who was […] Read more
