Karen Briere

ASSINIBOIA, Sask. – Saskatchewan short-line railroad operators say new provincial funding will help them improve infrastructure and maintain safety. Highways and infrastructure minister Wayne Elhard recently chose Assiniboia, the hub of three short lines, to announce $500,000 for the Shortline Railway Sustainability Program. The program is designed to help maintain and upgrade aging track. The […] Read more

Changes to Saskatchewan’s Noxious Weed Act are in the works, but it will be a while before they are official. Provincial weed specialist Clark Brenzil said the first round of consultations will take place this summer and fall and will include municipalities, producer and environmental organizations and industries that work in “critical pathways of spread.” […] Read more

Canada ranks fifth in food safety performance among 17 industrialized countries, according to a recent study led by two University of Regina researchers. That gave the country a superior ranking, ahead of others considered average or poor. The United Kingdom, Japan, Denmark and Australia placed ahead of Canada based on data in four categories – […] Read more

A two-year program targeting invasive alien plants in Saskatchewan will end in July unless new funding is found. The program was funded under the environmental pillar of the agricultural policy framework, and is managed by the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities and the provincial agriculture department. Spokesperson Harvey Anderson said the federal government offered the […] Read more

Saskatchewan stakeholders are forming an invasive species council to focus attention on plants and animals that threaten to take over their environment. While it will have a plant focus, organizer Chet Neufeld, executive director of the Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan, said there are insects and animals that might cause problems as well, hence the […] Read more

The former president of the Saskatchewan Herb and Spice Association was remembered last week as an innovator and a mentor. Martin Gareau, 47, was found dead in his home on the Cayman Islands May 20. Royal Cayman Islands police have confirmed they are investigating the death as a homicide. A police spokesperson quoted in the […] Read more

The former Saskatchewan NDP government envisioned a strong agroforestry industry with about four million acres worth of farmed trees. But few trees have been planted since that goal was set and the Saskatchewan Party government has no plan to fulfill it. Energy and resources minister Bill Boyd said growing trees is not attractive right now. […] Read more

How and why a cow was mutilated on a Stockholm, Sask., area farm will likely remain a mystery because the carcass was discovered too late to carry out an autopsy. The pregnant two-year-old Angus cow was discovered in a pasture earlier this month. But by the time owners Ed and Heather Harris learned how to […] Read more

Farmers seeding their fields this spring should be on the lookout for small burrowing owls. The endangered birds return from their winter homes in southern Texas and Mexico in late April and early May. They settle mainly in southern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta. Andrea Kotylak, habitat stewardship co-ordinator at Nature Saskatchewan, said May 6 that […] Read more

Farm organizations are renewing calls for a railway costing review after the Canadian Transportation Agency approved an eight percent increase in rail rates for grain. The increase was announced April 24 and takes effect Aug. 1, in time for harvest. After the increase, a producer near Saskatoon who moves 1,300 tonnes to Vancouver will pay […] Read more