Saskatchewan farmers don’t want to wait a full year for the province to fund its share of 2004 farm safety net claims. “We need our Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program funding immediately,” Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities delegate Arlynn Kurtz told premier Lorne Calvert during a bear-pit session at the association’s annual convention. With Agriculture […] Read more
Sean Pratt
Stories by Sean Pratt
Education tax still a sore point
Len Taylor has a better future as a straight man than he does as a comic. The opening joke in his address to the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities convention elicited a few chuckles, but later in his speech Saskatchewan’s minister of government relations nearly brought the house down with his earnest remarks about property […] Read more
Federal money headed to rural Sask.
Rural Saskatchewan will soon have new money to address some of its infrastructure needs. The province is in the final stages of negotiating with rural and urban municipalities how it will distribute a $17.7 million injection of new federal money earmarked for such projects in 2005. Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities president Neal Hardy said […] Read more
Feds support domestic slaughter plants
With the U.S. border closed to live cattle exports for the foreseeable future, federal finance minister Ralph Goodale says it is time to accelerate the development of domestic slaughter capacity. “We simply need more of that capacity on the Canadian side of the border and in Canadian hands,” Goodale told delegates attending the Saskatchewan Association […] Read more
Saskatchewan farm groups yield on argument
Saskatchewan’s two main farm lobby organizations have patched up some of their differences. After years of fighting, the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities and the group it spawned, the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, are speaking again. Over the last five months the two groups have been consulting one another on various agricultural policy issues […] Read more
Farmers welcome approval of cheaper glyphosate
Canadian farmers will soon have access to a cheaper form of glypho- sate. On Feb. 14, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency ruled that a product manufactured by a U.S. firm is chemically equivalent to glyphosate products already sold in Canada. “It was quite a Valentine’s Day for us,” said Craig Kury, vice-president of business development […] Read more
BSE pops up during U.S. wheat meeting
RENO, Nevada Ñ There is no escaping talk about BSE in American farm circles, not even at a meeting of wheat growers. When hundreds of U.S. farmers gather for a convention it is only natural there will be some chatter about when the border should open to live cattle imports from Canada. But many producers […] Read more
States defeat bills to protect organics
Two American states have cast aside proposed legislation that would have made biotech companies liable for damage caused by the release of genetically modified wheat, but a third state might yet approve an even tougher motion. Senators in Montana and North Dakota defeated similar bills designed to protect wheat markets for organic and conventional growers. […] Read more
Bean prices too low for growers
Manitoba bean growers haven’t found new crop contracts appetizing this year. “There is not a lot of activity on the contracting side. Growers are just kind of holding back and waiting,” said Dennis Lange, an agronomist with Parent Seed Farms Ltd., a processing firm from St. Joseph, Man. New crop pinto and navy bean prices […] Read more
Wheat groups seek unity
RENO, Nevada Ñ An attempt to turn the U.S. wheat industry from a chorus into a solo act has fallen flat. But proponents of a merger plan that would see three associations become one entity say the fat lady has yet to sing. The idea is to create a unified voice for the American wheat […] Read more
