A successful transaction involving 10,000 bushels was exactly what a new Regina on-line grain marketing company was looking for on its first day of business. Still, Chad Blenkin, vice-president of marketing for CropLinkCanada Ltd., sounded amazed that it worked so quickly. The membership-based system allows prairie producers, grain companies and truckers to find each other. […] Read more
Karen Briere
Stories by Karen Briere
Carbon credit cheques arrive
Don Horsman thinks it’s only fair that farmers who do something worthwhile for all of society should be paid for it. He was happy to recently accept a cheque for more than $1,300 that rewarded him for direct seeding and storing carbon in agricultural soil. The first cheques from a three-year carbon trading pilot program […] Read more
SSCA layoffs planned again
For the second time this year, the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association has announced it will lay off its field staff. One agrologist in each of these locations will lose their jobs Sept. 30: Yorkton, North Battleford, Tisdale and Swift Current. The Saskatoon office was already vacant and the position will not be filled. SSCA executive […] Read more
Dry farmers get little help
Farmers representing 16 rural municipalities in southwestern Saskatchewan are researching ways to obtain an acreage payment for those who suffered losses due to drought. They took on the task after separate meetings on Sept. 11 with provincial agriculture minister Mark Wartman and David Anderson, parliamentary secretary to federal agriculture minister Chuck Strahl. The group calling […] Read more
Internal deal signed; barriers remain
Six jurisdictions have signed a new agreement to liberalize interprovincial agricultural trade, putting pressure on Ontario and Quebec to follow suit. The four western provinces, Prince Edward Island and Yukon all signed the Interim Agreement on Internal Trade in Agriculture and Food Goods last week. The agreement was struck after a national consensus couldn’t be […] Read more
Drought batters southwest Sask.
PONTEIX, Sask. – Rural municipalities in southwestern Saskatchewan are declaring themselves disaster areas after two consecutive years of drought and out-of-control gopher populations. While attention earlier this growing season focused on Saskatchewan’s flooded northeast, farmers and ranchers in the opposite corner of the province could only hope for a fraction of that moisture to come […] Read more
Gophers eating through crops
PONTEIX, Sask. – Companies that sell ammunition in southwestern Saskatchewan are doing a booming business these days. Gopher populations are higher than people in this region can ever remember. Despite the use of strychnine and guns, the rodents continue to devastate crops and pastures. In some cases they have taken out entire fields, said farmer […] Read more
Stressed farmers still searching for answers
PONTEIX, Sask. – Allan Oliver wears several hats on any given day. As a farmer, reeve and member of the Saskatchewan Farm Stress Line advisory group, he’s heard and seen it all. He expects calls to the stress line to climb over the next couple of months as harvest winds up and bills come due. […] Read more
Anthrax vaccine poses health risk for small horses
Unusual adverse reaction to the anthrax vaccine by some miniature horses and young foals has prompted a warning for owners to consider alternative measures. The advice comes from the company that makes the vaccine and from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine after several horses died within 10 days of being vaccinated to prevent the […] Read more
Moose Jaw slaughter plant closes down again
Layoff notices for about 100 workers at Moose Jaw Pork Packers were expected to go out this week as the plant’s kill floor remained closed. Dave Worke, who took over Sept. 6 as chief executive officer, said he hoped the situation would be temporary but there was no other choice. “We have no money coming […] Read more
