Karen Morrison

Build it and they will come – eventually. That’s what participants heard during a Rural Visions conference in Fort Qu’Appelle, Sask., in January. Sponsored by the United Church, the second annual event took a hard look at rural and farm life and offered up some suggestions on how to make it better. Harris farmer Craig […] Read more

An environmentalist says intensive agricultural operations are the best use of Canada’s precious land resource. Speaking at the Saskatchewan Cattle Feeders Association annual meeting in Saskatoon on Feb. 1, Patrick Moore said these kinds of operations can help curb worldwide deforestation. Moore, a founding member of Greenpeace who now heads the consulting firm Greenspirit, said […] Read more

David Kolsrud is a third-generation Beaver Creek, Minnesota farmer who wants to preserve farming as a way of life. Speaking in Saskatoon at a Saskatchewan Agrivision conference on ethanol Jan. 30, Kolsrud detailed how a threat to farm life in the 1980s forced his community to get politically active and seek out alternatives for their […] Read more

A new task force will tell the federal government by month’s end what is needed to launch an ethanol industry in Saskatchewan. They will rely heavily on information garnered from a one-day Saskatchewan Agrivision Corporation conference held here Jan. 30. The 400 participants heard about an expanding ethanol industry in Minnesota and what is needed […] Read more

Drought has a silver lining when it comes to wheat midge. Little rain means fewer of the insects in Saskatchewan and Alberta. Scott Hartley, insect and pest management specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture, said weather has reduced cases of orange wheat blossom midge in the last two years. “If it’s too windy or cool during egg […] Read more

A Unity, Sask., farmer is upset about paying $99 for information already available for free elsewhere. Eileen Debelser sent the money for a book on federal and provincial grant and loan sources after receiving a “very official looking” mailout from a company called Info Can in Ottawa. She thought she was dealing with a government […] Read more

Chloramphenicol, a livestock antibiotic linked to a recent food scare in Europe, was banned for use in Canadian food animals a decade ago, said Trish Dowling of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon. Earlier this month, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization urged countries to ban the drug after residues were found […] Read more

A “dream team” of Canadian research scientists will explore the genes that control cold hardiness in winter wheat. Molecular geneticist André Laroche of Agriculture Canada’s research centre in Lethbridge, Alta., hopes to identify genes, biological mechanisms and responses, and learn their function and roles in freezing tolerance over the next three years. “I am interested […] Read more

A farmer near Prince Albert, Sask., will learn the fate of his 350 head of elk in February, after one of his slaughtered animals tested positive for chronic wasting disease. George Luterbach of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed the latest case of the fatal brain disorder Jan. 21. He said it will take a […] Read more

Skaters and farmers will be vying for the same hotel rooms next January, when Saskatoon hosts two major events. The 20th annual Western Canadian Crop Production show is slated for Jan. 7-10. The Bank of Montreal Canadian figure skating championships are scheduled for Jan. 6-12. This year’s crop show attracted 16,000 visitors, while Skate Canada […] Read more