The Saskatchewan government last week announced a two-pronged attack on the gopher infestation in the province’s southwest. It has doubled the number of rural municipalities eligible to obtain two percent liquid strychnine poison, and it contributed $380,000 for research into long-term gopher control. “When we’re done, only Gainer’s going to be safe,” premier Brad Wall […] Read more
Karen Briere
Stories by Karen Briere
Premier’s driving confession causes stir
All hands went up when Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities president David Marit asked convention delegates if they had allowed their children to drive before they were of legal age. Just to be sure, he asked who hadn’t. No one raised a hand. Right or wrong, that’s the reality in rural Saskatchewan, highlighted last week […] Read more
Spring show features top 4-H animals
Justin Hall had more on his mind than showing the grand champion steer at Agribition’s Spring Steer and Heifer Show last weekend. Just days earlier, he learned that his high school, Robert Usher Collegiate in Regina, will close at the end of June. The Grade 11 student, who lives near Craven, Sask., isn’t too happy […] Read more
SARM delegates get along
Rural municipal delegates weren’t in the mood for much talk at their annual convention last week. Resolutions to the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities annual convention were brought forward and mostly passed – just four of 30 were lost – with little or no discussion. Delegates agreed that the provincial government should provide funding for […] Read more
Sask. vows to administer farm programs
Saskatchewan agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud says the province will take over administration of farm assistance programs like AgriStability. Speaking to delegates to the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities annual convention, Bjornerud said too many farmers are frustrated dealing with federal bureaucrats who administer the program. “We’re going to bring the CAIS administration back to Saskatchewan,” […] Read more
Latest gov’t hog aid still too little, says Sask Pork
Saskatchewan hog producers hope assistance payments announced last week roll out more smoothly than those announced in January. But even the additional money provided through earlier access to 2008 AgriStability claims won’t solve the industry’s crisis. The federal and provincial governments said March 14 they would implement targeted advance payments for 2008. When a similar […] Read more
Sask. school tax debate shelved
For the first time in years, rural municipal delegates at their annual convention did not debate a resolution about education tax on farmland. The thorny issue first appeared on the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities agenda in 1964. Councillors have since lobbied for the tax to be reduced, if not entirely removed. They have scolded […] Read more
Sask. runoff expected low to moderate
There’s no relief in sight for farmers in southwestern Saskatchewan who desperately need moisture, according to the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority’s latest spring runoff forecast. Runoff in the entire southern grain belt is expected to be below normal as of March 1. The southwestern corner, including the Cypress Hills, Val Marie and Coronach, will have runoff […] Read more
Resistance found in chickpeas
MOOSE JAW, Sask. – Repeated use of strobiluron fungicides to control ascochyta blight in chickpeas is leading to increasing resistance. Penny Pearse, a crop disease specialist with the Saskatchewan agriculture ministry, said a study of fungal isolates collected between 2004 and 2006 found 68 percent were not controlled by Quadris and 50 percent were not […] Read more
China big market for peas
Canadian pea shipments to China are expected to increase as the consumption of vermicelli noodles traditionally made and eaten in northern China expands across the country. Pulse Canada’s Greg Cherewyk said the white noodles from Shandong province are becoming popular as disposable income rises and people change their eating patterns. For more than 300 years […] Read more
