The organic industry wants to tap into check-off money collected by commodity groups. That was the consensus of a committee formed at last week’s Organic Connections conference with the purpose of establishing an organic prairie research coalition. “This is essentially just a set-up committee. We’re still sort of a step behind the real thing,” said […] Read more
Sean Pratt
Stories by Sean Pratt
Weed numbers highly variable in organic fields
After 10 years of comparing high-input, reduced-input and organic cropping systems, one thing is glaringly apparent to Eric Johnson. “There is just more variability in weed populations in organic systems,” says the Agriculture Canada weed biologist. One year there might be far less than 100 weeds per sq. metre in his organic plots on the […] Read more
Organic hemp crop lifeline on Sask. farm
GARRICK, Sask. – In some ways the MacGregor farm may be unrecognizable from when it was first settled in the 1930s. In other ways, little has changed. The original farmhouse still sits on the property, along with a collection of other dilapidated buildings from that era. Robert MacGregor can’t bring himself to knock them down […] Read more
Organic firm eyes prairie expansion
The manufacturer of North America’s top-selling organic cereal brand wants to establish a presence on the Canadian Prairies. Nature’s Path Foods Inc. plans to spend $30 million on processing upgrades and expansions over the next three to four years, including the construction of a prairie-based plant to process organic cereals. The British Columbia firm owns […] Read more
RM group feels woman’s touch
It is somehow appropriate that Debra Gronning played a key role in the demise of the most enduring symbol of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities. Gone are the gaudy gold jackets donned by SARM directors at every annual convention for decades. They have been replaced by a more subdued brown jacket. Initially, members of […] Read more
Gas revenue gets credit for property tax relief
Gas is usually the cause of a problem, not the source of relief. But in Saskatchewan it is the other way around. By successfully lobbying for changes in the way oil and gas revenues are treated in the calculation of federal equalization payments, the province will be able to provide substantial short-term property tax relief […] Read more
Organic supply up, demand steady, price down
The production of organic grains and legumes may not be as lucrative as it once was, says a market analyst. “That price premium does seem to be coming down in the United States as it has already in Europe,” said Rob McCaleb, founder and president of the Herb Research Foundation. Speaking Nov. 15 at the […] Read more
Municipalities eager to work with Ottawa
With work on health-care reform well under way, prime minister Paul Martin is shifting his focus to another election promise, creating a new deal for cities and communities. During the 2004 federal election campaign Martin vowed a re-elected Liberal government would give municipalities more predictable infrastructure funding through billions of dollars in GST and gas […] Read more
SARM targets beef barrier
The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities wants the border opened to beef, but not the same border everybody else is talking about. In his president’s address to the 2004 midterm convention, Neal Hardy said it is time to relax rules governing the interprovincial trade of beef. Farmers are rightfully frustrated by the delay in reopening […] Read more
CWB meeting generates little farmer interest
PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – The Canadian Wheat Board’s marketing monopoly isn’t the hot-button issue it once was. That was the consensus from a small collection of candidates and grain producers who showed up for a campaign debate in District 6 last week. But there was a discrepancy in why they thought that was the case. […] Read more
