Manitoba canola growers elect new directors
The Manitoba Canola Growers Association recently elected four new directors: Clayton Harder, Narol; Bill Nicholson, Shoal Lake; Jacob (Jack) Froese, Winkler, and Ron Krahn, Rivers.
The directors are elected to four-year terms. Candidates needed to win more than half of the active votes in any particular count to win one of the four available positions.
The association mailed 8,455 ballots, and 1,170 valid envelopes were returned and 98 ballots were rejected.
Detailed tabulation results are available at www.mcgacanola.org.
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Farming Smarter near Lethbridge got a boost to its research equipment, thanks to the Alberta government’s increase in funding for research associations.
New GM for Farmer Direct Co-operative
John LaClare is the new general manager of Farmer Direct Cooperative.
LaClare has been president and chief executive officer of Big Sky Farms and CEO of the Heartland Group of Companies.
He is also an associate with AgriBiz Communications and has held executive board positions with Canadian Western Agribition, VIDO-InterVac and the Western Beef Development Centre.
New GM for national check-off agency
Melinda German is the new general manager of the Canadian Beef Cattle Research, Market Development and Promotion Agency.
German was previously general manager of Manitoba Beef Producers and director of Manitoba Agriculture’s Livestock Knowledge Centre. She will help ensure transparency and accountability with the national checkoff.
The position is new for the agency and reflects a restructuring in which check-off management, marketing and research will be managed by separate divisions.
2015 Pulse Promoter
BASF Canada and Saskatchewan Pulse Growers have named Bob Tyler of the University of Saskatchewan’s agriculture college Pulse Promoter of the Year for 2015.
Tyler is a long-time member of the Prairie Grain Development Committee’s pulse and special crops committee.
He serves on boards for Saskatchewan Pulse Growers’ research and development committee, Ag-West Bio Inc. and the Saskatchewan Institute of Agrologists.
Tyler also chairs the Saskatchewan Food Council and is a past-president of the Saskatchewan Institute of Agrologists, the Saskatchewan Agricultural Graduates Association and the Kiwanis Club of Saskatoon.
Pioneer yield challenge winners
Dupont Pioneer has selected 15 winners of its 2015 Western Canadian Proving Ground Yield Challenge.
Florian Hagmann from Birch Hills, Sask., achieved 116.8 bushels per acre, growing Pioneer hybrid 45H33 canola treated with DuPont Lumiderm.
Bernie Toews from MacGregor, Man., surpassed the 200 bu. per acre corn yield mark with Pioneer hybrid 39D97.
Each winner receives a trip for two to the 2016 Tim Hortons Brier in Ottawa.
A full list of winners is at pioneer.com.
Co-op Community Spaces funding deadline
Applications for the 2016 Co-op Community Spaces program will be accepted until Feb. 12.
The program is in its second year and has a budget of $1.5 million. Its goal is to help protect, beautify and improve the places where people meet in communities across Western Canada.
The program funded 16 projects last year in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Some of these projects included creek rehabilitation, gardens and play spaces for toddlers.
Co-op Community Spaces will provide donations of $25,000 to $100,000.
Eligible organizations must be registered non-profits, registered charities or community service co-operatives.
The program will support up to 60 community projects in 2016 in three categories: recreation, environmental conservation and urban agriculture.
For more information, visit communityspaces.ca.
Sask. Ag Hall of Fame new inductees
Linda Braun, Robin Morall and Pat Beaujot will be inducted into the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame this year.
Braun was executive director of Sask Flax from 1997 to 2014 and participated in the development and approval from Health Canada of a health claim for flax seed. She worked to build the foundation for the use of flax fibre.
Braun also helped lead the industry in efforts to remove the genetically modified variety CDC Triffid from the Canadian flax supply.
She was one of the founders of the CropSphere conference.
Internationally recognized for his pioneering work on plant diseases, Morrall worked in plant pathology in the University of Saskatchewan’s biology department from 1965-97.
He is now an expert on seed-borne diseases for Discovery Seed Labs in Saskatoon.
Beaujot is a pioneer of direct seeding equipment with the development of an independent hydraulic pressure opener in 1992 and a manufacturing business called Seed Hawk in Langbank, Sask.
Induction will be at Saskatoon’s Western Development Museum Aug. 6.
