Machinery, rental guide
The 2006 edition of Saskatchewan Agriculture’s Farm Machinery Custom and Rental Rate Guide is now available.
The publication is designed to help producers calculate how much their equipment costs to operate and how much they should charge for custom services such as seeding, spraying or harvesting.
It includes a calculation of the equipment and labour expenses to complete the listed custom operations. Expenses include fuel, opportunity cost, depreciation and repairs, along with a 15 percent profit margin.
Cost calculations in the guide suggest the price of diesel fuel has gone up 42 percent since the guide was last published in 2004. While the price of steel has also skyrocketed, the price of equipment manufactured in the U.S. has increased by up to 10 percent because of the rising Canadian dollar. The price of Canadian manufactured equipment has increased by five to 15 percent since 2004.
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The publication is available at www.agr.gov.sk.ca under the heading Business Arrangements, or can be obtained by calling 866-457-2377.
Lines of communication
Brenda Trask is SeCan’s new national communications manager.
Trask assumed the newly created position on June 1 and will work at SeCan’s headquarters in Kanata, Ont. She will be responsible for co-ordinating SeCan’s advertising and public relations initiatives in Canada.
SeCan is the largest supplier of certified seed to Canadian farmers. Its more than 1,000 members are engaged in seed production, processing and marketing.
Researcher awarded
University of Saskatchewan professor Jim Hendry has received a distinguished researcher award for his pioneering work with aquitards, which is considered critical in the management of fresh water supplies.
Aquitards are near-impermeable underground layers that sandwich water-rich aquifers. Clay-rich aquitards are also the material of choice to sequester the dangerous wastes of modern technological society, including swine waste, PCBs, mine tailings and nuclear waste.
Hendry received the award at the spring convocation ceremony May 24.
