MANITOBA SOUTHWEST Rain ends seeding Storms that dumped 10 to 50 millimetres of rain early last week ended any chance of seeding this year for producers who have been dealing with soggy fields all spring. Seeding progress ranges from 25 to 40 percent complete in the Killarney-Boissevain area to 15 to 25 percent near Souris […] Read more
News
Western Producer Crop Report – for Jun. 23, 2011
Floods hike Sask. net income
Widespread farmland flooding was seen as a disaster in Saskatchewan last year, but in the end there turned out to be a silver lining for the province. Realized net income in Saskatchewan increased 37 percent last year to $2.16 billion from $1.577 billion the previous year. That was despite a large swath of Saskatchewan farmland […] Read more
Tasty ways to dish up rhubarb
RECIPE REQUEST Dear TEAM: I would like some new rhubarb recipes. Also, I was wondering what Alma Copeland is doing. You haven’t mentioned her much since she stopped writing for this column. M.S., Rama, Sask. Dear M.S.: Alma is well and keeping busy with her garden, community work and family. She often makes lunch for […] Read more
New reality show turns Sask. crop sprayers into TV stars
Don’t tell Bud Jardine that food just comes from a grocery store. The veteran crop-dusting pilot from Nipawin, Sask., knows better. Jardine, one of the stars of History Television’s reality seriesDust Up, has spent 41 years on the front lines of the agriculture industry, risking life and limb buzzing low over farmers’ fields in his […] Read more
Wanted dead or alive: ticks hunted in Western Canada
Neil Chilton is a bit of a tick magnet. The parasitologist and assistant department head at the University of Saskatchewan’s biology department has spent eight years studying the hardy arachnids in Saskatchewan, including the past three years overseeing the Tick Surveillance Program. He analyzes ticks that the public sends him from across Western Canada. Part […] Read more
Delivering water a challenge as demand grows
Stark choices lie ahead for a world in need of water to produce an ever-greater amount of food. Chandra Madramootoo, dean of agriculture and environmental sciences at McGill University in Montreal, said billions of people in India, Egypt and China face acute water shortages that in some cases already require strict allocation. By contrast, water […] Read more
DIY tackles underwear
MUENSTER, Sask. – The women come in all shapes, sizes and ages to learn how to sew a bra from instructor Beverly Johnson. The Hamilton, Ont., seamstress has been teaching at the annual Stitches conference in Muenster, Sask., for nine years. Johnson started making bras about 15 years ago when she and others complained about […] Read more
Flax crop stalled by weather
David Sefton doesn’t hesitate when asked to describe his farmland near Broadview, Sask. “It looks like lakefront property,” he said. Fortunately for him, 1,200 of his 4,500 acres are in the Qu’Appelle Valley where the land’s natural slope has thwarted the development of swamps and sloughs. “The land out of the valley, we probably won’t […] Read more
Wildlife video contest
The Canadian Wildlife Federation is launching a video contest to mark Rivers to Oceans Week. One minute videos entered in the Water’s Worth It contest should explain what’s special about a local body of water and why it’s worth conserving. The federation will contribute $2,000 in funding toward a water-conservation project in the winner’s area. […] Read more
Water policy needed to safeguard food production
In 15 years, only six of the world’s 196 countries will be net food exporters. Canada will be one of them, and within Canada, Saskatchewan and Alberta will be the sweet spots. John Knapp, deputy minister of the Alberta agriculture department, presented that scenario to those gathered at a water conference in Lethbridge. Troubling though […] Read more
