Karen Morrison

Ninety Saskatchewan chicken producers have been forced to truck their birds to Alberta as workers at the only chicken processing plant in the province walk the picket line. Lilydale Foods in Wynyard and its workers failed to reach agreement on a new contract after negotiating through the spring and summer. The previous agreement expired Jan. […] Read more

Fruit and vegetable growers are hoping for summer-like temperatures this fall to sustain a late-maturing crop through harvest. An early frost that hit Saskatchewan and Manitoba on Aug. 20 hurt cucumbers, peppers, corn and pumpkins, many of which were already well behind normal, said Andrew Sullivan of Saskatchewan Agriculture. The vegetable crop specialist said warm […] Read more

BLAINE LAKE, Sask. – Denise and Chad Timm are used to calls about their U-pick saskatoon orchard but these days they are also fielding calls about when their cherries will be ready. The couple began planting 750 sour cherry trees in 2001 on their Heavenly Hills Orchard in central Saskatchewan. They expect them to start […] Read more

Saskatchewan leads the way in sour cherry research as the only breeding site in Canada, said University of Saskatchewan plant sciences researcher Bob Bors. Introduced as “Mr. Cherry” at a cherry festival seminar in Bruno, Sask. in August, he has led the wave of interest in the new fruit for the Canadian Prairies. Dwarf sour […] Read more

Like many Winnipeggers, Charlie Robert retreats to the countryside most summer weekends. He gets away not to bask on the beach but to tend to his orchards. Robert, with his family’s help, has been weeding, pruning and managing about 11,000 sea buckthorn plants at his Branching Out Orchard near St. Claude since planting them in […] Read more

BLAINE LAKE, Sask. – Jim Fred Popoff was an 11-year-old orphan when he came to live in a cave overlooking the North Saskatchewan River. He was one of 200 Doukhobors who in 1899 chose this spot near the north-central Saskatchewan town of Blaine Lake as their home. The panoramic views of the river valley and […] Read more

The prickly plant with broad mottled leaves looks more like a weed than a crop bound for export markets. Milk thistle is tough to produce in Canada’s short growing season, and it’s even tougher to harvest the plant’s brilliant purple flowers, said Doug Waterer of the University of Saskatchewan’s plant sciences department. “The challenge is […] Read more

Mother Nature froze hopes of a bumper crop in Saskatchewan and western Manitoba with unseasonably low overnight temperatures Aug. 20. Carroll, Man., farmer Darrel Carlisle said the frost damage in his canola and peas has become more apparent over the weekend. His neighbour’s silage corn has turned black, he said. “It didn’t kill everything off, […] Read more

HAWARDEN, Sask. – Sales routes are colour coded by salesmen on a road map of Saskatchewan, while alphabetized town names and their potential businesses are pinned to a bulletin board in the offices of Perry Industries. Fresh from a grand opening in July that attracted 300 people and bolstered by the first month’s 25 sales, […] Read more

CARRAGANA, Sask. – The sun struggles to make an appearance at the 74th annual Shand agricultural exhibition in northeastern Saskatchewan. It will be just one of many challenges faced by more than a dozen key organizers Aug. 11. Pinch-hitting for a poultry judge who phoned in sick, fair director and chicken producer Sophie Machala examines […] Read more