Karen Morrison

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. – She left rural Alberta at age 15 and now works in the city to inform others about agriculture. Brenda Hunik operates Encompass, a communications company that has worked extensively with groups like the Alberta Beef Producers and the Canadian Cattle Commission. Despite hard times from bovine spongiform encephalopathy and a closed border, […] Read more

CUDWORTH, Sask. – Devlin Emisch shakes his head, worrying that a stray bullet that passed through his dog could have hit him. “It makes me feel scared because we were very close to the dog,” he said. “It could have hit us.” His brother Darian is just glad Lucky survived with nothing more than dime […] Read more

OUTLOOK, Sask. – Saskatchewan grows only seven percent of the vegetables it consumes, while Manitoba grows 57 percent of its produce and Alberta more than 30 percent. Oliver Green of Broderick Gardens in Broderick, Sask., led other growers in a discussion Dec. 10 in Outlook about the reasons for those differences and explored ways to […] Read more

Ensuring that project proposals fall within government grant guidelines often undermines the work undertaken by women’s groups, said Gail Erickson of the federal Farm Women’s Bureau. She said that frustration is one of many faced by Canada’s farm women’s groups already struggling with funding shortages and declining and aging membership. Some of these groups leaned […] Read more

OUTLOOK, Sask.- Saskatchewan irrigators will consider hired help to raise the resource’s profile provincially and nationally. The group plans to investigate hiring an employee to promote the benefits of irrigation and lobby for research and development funding. At the Saskatchewan Irrigation Projects Association’s annual conference in Outlook on Dec. 1-2, members agreed to double fees […] Read more

OUTLOOK, Sask. – Saskatchewan’s Riverhurst district is jumping into the irrigation waters with both feet. Lorne Jackson, chair of the local irrigation district, said members are collecting $1 an acre toward a credit program designed to help bring new irrigators on-line in south-central Saskatchewan. “We’re trying to get our people going ahead,” he said. The […] Read more

ROSTHERN, Sask. – Two hundred children will find homemade Christmas joy under their trees this year through the efforts of seniors and staff at Santa’s Workshop in this central Saskatchewan community. Since June, residents of the Mennonite Nursing Home and community volunteers have gathered to paint, hammer and glue toys and compile Santa sacks full […] Read more

Canadian seed potato growers can avoid costly court cases through a service offered by the Fruit and Vegetable Dispute Resolution Corp. David Hendrick and Andrew Wilson of the Canadian Horticultural Council presented an overview of the DRC to the Saskatchewan Seed Potato Growers Association meeting. The not-for-profit corporation was established in 1999 under the North […] Read more

Green manure crops could help potato growers manage scab and rhizoctonia, said University of Saskatchewan researcher Jill Thomson. Speaking to the Saskatchewan Seed Potato Growers Association conference in Saskatoon Nov. 19, Thomson detailed studies begun this year at the university using a host of green manure crops with Norland and Penta potatoes. The plots planted […] Read more

Saskatchewan seed potatoes are like athletes who train at high altitudes and outperform those at lower elevations, said Steve Sanders of the Saskatchewan Seed Potato Growers Association. “Basically we’ve created a super potato,” he said. “It outperforms seed in traditional potato growing areas.” The SSPGA cited the potato’s northern vigour characteristics that come from long, […] Read more