Michael Raine

SASKATOON – Farmers’ penchant for homemade remedies and clear prairie skies are natural partners under a northeastern Saskatchewan development board’s plan to offer blueprints for a solar-powered grain dryer. Members of the District 26 Agricultural Development and Diversification Board around Tisdale, Sask. think solar collection units save on power costs, but are too costly for […] Read more

SASKATOON – Feed barley growers may want to fasten their seatbelts. Experts say international subsidies, weather-related production fluctuations, international market demand, worldwide increases in barley acreage, replacement feed production and grain transportation could all work together to give prices a wild ride. As farmers and sellers watched, prices fell 20 cents a bushel in one […] Read more

MORDEN, Man. – A new pulse crop may be creeping into the brown soil zone, if it can overcome its dangerous reputation. Grass peas will yield as well or better than established field pea varieties with less moisture, making them more suitable for brown soils than most pulses. The grass pea fixes nitrogen throughout its […] Read more

EDMONTON – For Ken Larsen, the freedom of choice argument touted by opponents of the Canadian Wheat Board is all backward. “It is a matter of freedom of choice. My freedom to choose the Canadian Wheat Board as my sole exporter,” said Larsen, one of 150 farmers rallying in favor of the wheat board in […] Read more

CFB Suffield, Alta. – A sea of grassland rolls and waves at the cottonwood trees as several, large white-tailed bucks stand watching the odd comings and goings of wagon train and cattle herd in southeastern Alberta. Late in July the Western Stock Growers Association Centennial Cattle Drive stretched across this raw prairie that is encompassed […] Read more

BUFFALO, Alta. – The open range mainly exists now in the memories of those who are old enough to have experienced it firsthand. Others can only imagine. In eastern Alberta, fence lines, farms and roadways break the daytime horizons while night is filled with yardlights and the glow from gas plants. But there is a […] Read more

DROWNING FORD, Alta.- Every day a town of 1,500 people and 4,000 head of stock got up and moved to a new site 25 kilometres away. It was no small feat, and a logistical challenge for organizers. The six-day Western Stock Growers Association centennial cattle drive was a marvel of nomadic relocation. The tent city […] Read more

BOX SPRINGS COULEE, Alta. – Horses, mules, cattle and riders, wagons and carriages filled the horizon and spread across the prairie. For six days the procession crossed near-virgin prairie and rode into the journals of western Canadian history. In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first Western Stock Growers Association meeting, more than 2,000 […] Read more

SASKATOON – How do you make good urine? Farmers who sell Pregnant Mare’s Urine for use in hormone replacement therapy in menopausal women have no way of knowing, since they can’t measure success in bushels per acre. Pharmaceutical companies grade the urine after it’s delivered to the plant based on amount of production, but the […] Read more

SASKATOON – Spudnuts, those potato flour tasties with the deep fried aroma that permeates the air of community fairs, are becoming healthier thanks to canola. Sold in vanilla glaze or chocolate, these summertime confections look as unique as they taste, right down to the cholesterol, or lack of it. The Scouts Canada North Saskatchewan region […] Read more