Karen Morrison

Snow has been an infrequent visitor to Medicine Hat, Alta., this winter, while white mounds line the streets of Prince Albert, Sask., like spectators at a parade. Northern areas of the prairie grain belt are seeing more snow than the south, largely due to the early arrival of the white stuff and major snowstorms. Meteorologist […] Read more

Saskatchewan berry producers are hoping their new dried fruit will whet the appetite of health conscious consumers in 2007. Sandy Purdy, a saskatoon producer since 1993 and owner of Prairie Berries at Kehler, Sask., said testing that is now being conducted on the shelf life of dry packaged saskatoons is expected to be complete by […] Read more

The pomegranate powder is as pink as a flamingo, fine as icing sugar and emits an exotically sweet aroma. This innovation filling plastic lined paper boxes and stainless steel pans in a small Saskatoon factory is the brainchild of Ashraf Abdellatif, president of Canagra Technologies Inc. His company, which opened last fall, extracts the active […] Read more

A Saskatchewan agriculture graduate will spend the next four years exploring the production of oilseeds for biodiesel in Norway. Wendy Waalen, who was raised on a farm at Eyebrow, said Norway and Canada both have a growing interest in renewable energy. “They’re looking for ways to try and protect their agricultural industry,” she said. Only […] Read more

BLUCHER, Sask. – Her cheeks sport a pink flush from spring days spent tending long rows of fruit trees east of Saskatoon. This spring, Myrna Engelberts was found amidst her flowering saskatoon bushes enjoying the start of the growing season. “I am a nature lover,” said the former nurse who operates her orchard on a […] Read more

As sour cherries come into full production in prairie orchards, another hardy contender stands waiting in the wings. The blue honeysuckle, also known as haskap, tastes something like a blueberry and raspberry, explained Bob Bors of the University of Saskatchewan. He grows a host of varieties sent from Russia and Japan, where haskap is especially […] Read more

VANSCOY, Sask. – Clare Pearson has always enjoyed baking and cooking, so developing ice cream varieties with her orchard’s fruit was just another sweet challenge. She and her husband Wayne operate Prairie Sun Orchards west of Saskatoon, where they grow a host of fruits including smooth kiwis, sour cherries, blue honeysuckles, strawberries and rhubarb. They […] Read more

Rural newspapers will get at least two more years of postal subsidies after the federal government directed Canada Post to continue its support of the Publications Assistance Program. The program, funded jointly by Heritage Canada and Canada Post, provides up to $15 million each year in postal subsidies to farm newspapers including the Western Producer. […] Read more

A bare-backed canoeist rows in a puddle one month, while a long lens dangles in front of a naked pharmacist on another page of the 2007 Highway 32 Pothole calendar. In all, 12 months of images direct attention to the declining state of the main highway between Leader and Swift Current, Sask., said Ray Hawkins. […] Read more