The discovery of clubroot in eastern Alberta has prompted a young entrepreneur to invent a cleaning system for her truck-mounted soil sampler. Sheena McKelvie attached sprayer nozzles to the wheel wells of her truck that spray a 12 percent bleach solution on the tires. She turns on the sprayers by activating a switch in the […] Read more
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Alberta soil tester combats clubroot
Alta. takes grasslands off the market, again
The Alberta government has halted the potential sale of 16,000 acres of native grassland near Medicine Hat. A brief news release issued Oct. 19 indicated requests for proposals to buy the property for irrigated agricultural development had been cancelled “after people expressed concerns that there was no pubic input into using a Request for Proposals […] Read more
Agriculture not election priority
Farmers and ranchers looking for specific promises from the two main Saskatchewan political parties will have to dig deep into their election platforms. The Saskatchewan Party and the New Democrats released their full platforms last week in advance of the Nov. 7 vote. Neither highlighted agriculture as a main priority. Saskatchewan Party leader Brad Wall […] Read more
Program weighs rewards and risks
CANDO, Sask. — Jim Cook has become a believer in investing in intensive agronomic strategies. As he combined his wheat Sept. 13, Cook was noticeably pleased with what he was seeing in his field. He didn’t need a weigh wagon to tell him that the crop had a significant yield increase. The Cando farmer averaged […] Read more
Wheat board reform raises check-off questions
Western Canadian farmers will soon see changes to the way wheat and barley checkoffs are collected. What’s not yet clear is how those changes will be implemented or what the new levy system will look like. Garth Patterson, executive director of the Western Grains Research Foundation, said his organization will be involved in discussions with […] Read more
Tallying it up: who pays windup costs?
The federal government left lingering questions last week about the costs of moving away from single-desk grain marketing and who will pay the tab. David Anderson, parliamentary secretary for the Canadian Wheat Board, said in a parliamentary debate that farmers “should not be left alone” to deal with the extraordinary costs of winding down the […] Read more
Industrial products get new life on the farm
An American company has figured out how to profit from the second R in the reduce-reuse-recyle mantra of environmentalism. Repurposed Materials of Denver, Colorado, markets used products and materials from various industries that producers can convert to multiple uses on the farm. Owner Damon Carson said reusing materials in agriculture is nothing new for most […] Read more
CWB chair sees little value in voluntary organization
There is no guarantee prairie farmers will benefit from Ottawa’s plan to establish a voluntary Canadian Wheat Board, says its chair. Speaking to reporters last week, Allen Oberg questioned the merits of a voluntary board, saying there is no assurance that profits derived from grain sales would be retained by the voluntary board or returned […] Read more
Tories push through contentious bill
In the early evening of Oct. 24, the Conservatives accomplished a decades-long dream for many supporters, winning a parliamentary vote that will lead to abolition of the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly. With 39 MPs not in the House of Commons, the final vote on second reading approval-in-principle for Bill C-18 was 151-118. All opposition MPs […] Read more
Swine health forum planned
The Canadian Swine Health Board will hold its third Canadian Swine Health Forum Nov. 3-4 in Niagara Falls, Ont. The board focuses on research, biosecurity and long-term disease risk management. Forum participants include producers, practitioners, researchers, government and other industry representatives. Topics to be discussed at the forum include the biosecurity standard and implementation, national […] Read more
