The founder of Big Sky Farms is optimistic the company will emerge from court protection with a plan to continue operating and pay off its debts. Florian Possberg said he is disappointed the company is in trouble, but isn’t surprised considering the state of the industry. “The hog industry has always been cyclical, but you […] Read more
Karen Briere
Stories by Karen Briere
Grain bag recyclers needed: SARM
Smoke wafting from fields isn’t necessarily from burning stubble. As the use of grain bags has increased, so has the problem of what to do with them once they are emptied. Many farmers are burning the bags because landfills won’t accept them and the companies that sold them don’t take them back. Only one company […] Read more
Electronic bracelet helps keep track of kids in farmyard
SEDLEY, Sask. – Joe and Wendy Wecker want to put a stop to tragic tales of farm accidents involving children. Earlier this month, during Agritechnica in Hanover, Germany, the producers from Sedley, Sask., signed a deal to bring a safety device to North America. The Kinderfinder is designed to prevent runovers by alerting drivers that […] Read more
Farmers ask for help to fight boar problem
Ed Kennet and Bob Brickley speak as if they are at war. Kennet is indeed a veteran, but both men have more recent experience planning attacks. This battle is being fought in Moose Mountain Provincial Park in southeastern Saskatchewan against four-legged enemies that can devastate crops overnight and snatch newborn calves as cows give birth. […] Read more
Sask. municipalities worry about road funding
The demand for rural road construction and repair will likely continue to outstrip the available money, but that won’t stop Saskatchewan municipalities from asking for more. The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities asked the federal finance committee last month to include a rural roads program in the upcoming budget. The association is requesting the provincial […] Read more
making clouds the prairie way
Saskatchewan will continue testing for chronic wasting disease this fall hunting season. The province announced its annual financial commitment of $240,000 last week for testing at the Canadian Co-operative Wildlife Heath Centre in Saskatoon. Hunters are asked to once again submit samples to environment ministry offices or private collection stations before Jan. 15. CWD is […] Read more
Sask. crown lease land not on farmers’ buy list
Saskatchewan has sold only a tenth of the 1.6 million acres of crown lease land made available for sale one year ago. Agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud said the 113,000 acres sold is a far cry from where the government thought it would be by now. “Producers were saying they couldn’t get financing or they weren’t […] Read more
Few new faces on Sask. cattle group board
Eleven men elected in the recent Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association board members’ election will officially take office in January. They and four appointed directors from the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association and Saskatchewan Cattle Feeders Association will take over during the SCA’s first annual general meeting Jan. 22. The association’s first elected board includes only three new […] Read more
Coyote bounty has pros, cons
A coyote control program announced in Saskatchewan last week is drawing praise and criticism. Some rural residents say the $20 per coyote bounty will encourage more farmers and hunters to kill the animals and protect their livestock. Others say coyotes play an important role in controlling gophers and other small pests. Agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud, […] Read more
Growers expected to continue boosting acreage
Camelina acreage is expected to climb again this year as the oilseed’s popularity grows. If the crop’s potential as a jet biofuel is realized, acreage could go sky high. Prairie producers seeded 500 acres to camelina in 2006. Last year, 10 times that many acres were in production. Great Plains, The Camelina Company, has about […] Read more
