WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. – The British Columbia Agriculture Council wants a stable income.”There is an increasing need to have an established fund of industry dollars that can be sourced and leveraged for the benefit of B.C. agriculture,” said council chair Garnett Etsell, who made the case for more money at the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association annual […] Read more
News
B.C. farm group lobbies provincial gov’t for stable funding
Lending practices under fire
The National Farmers Union is calling on Ottawa to review lending guidelines at Farm Credit Canada.Darrin Qualman, director of research with the NFU, says Farm Credit Canada – a taxpayer owned, federally controlled agricultural lending agency – should not be financing the acquisition of Canadian farmland by investment companies.On June 4, the NFU released a […] Read more
Raising livestock on island has its challenges
SATURNA ISLAND, B.C. – Getting to Campbell Farm on Saturna Island involves an hour-long ferry ride from Vancouver Island followed by a slow drive on a single lane road.Once there, however, the view from the 500 acre farm nestled between mountains and the Pacific Ocean make the trek worthwhile.This is where Jacques (pronounced Jackie) Campbell […] Read more
Grain bins decorated to show off Rider Pride
There’s a rumor on the Prairies that if a Saskatchewan farmer nicks his finger on a swather knife, he bleeds dark green. It’s the same dark green as a squashed grasshopper on the front of a pickup truck or the colours of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.Mike Cey, marketing director for Federated Co-operatives Limited, believes farmers will […] Read more
Unseeded acres require trip to lender
Farmers unable to seed but relying on this year’s crop to make payments should plan to sit down soon with their lenders.The full effect of this spring’s excessive moisture in parts of the Prairies is not yet known, but some farmers have run out of time to plant and beat the fall frost.Lenders say they […] Read more
Sign of cutworms: dead plants
When Olaf Cordes checked his canola field, he saw canola leaves with the edges munched and some plants completely chewed.The New Norway, Alta., farmer knew exactly what the problem was.”Those darn cutworms. They love the canola and leave the weeds alone,” said Cordes, who already sprayed 320 acres to kill the tiny pests and planned […] Read more
Further delays beset planned Sask. ethanol plant
Cereal growers near Prince Albert, Sask., will wait longer than anticipated for construction of a cellulosic ethanol plant that will use their straw.Shell Canada and Iogen Corp. are exploring the idea of building a facility at the former Domtar pulp mill in Prince Albert.The companies have been working on a feasibility study since the project […] Read more
No ‘prolonged dry period’ expected this summer: forecasters
More rain is in the forecast for summer but not the multi-day soakers that disrupted spring seeding, say weather forecasters.Environment Canada, the Weather Network and World Weather Inc. are all calling for above normal precipitation throughout much of the Prairies during June, July and August.“We’re probably going to still see a fairly regular occurrence of […] Read more
Norseman buys Cover-All assets
Norseman Group Ltd. of Edmonton has bought the assets of Cover-All Building Systems for $14 million.The company plans to resume operations at the former Cover-All plant in Saskatoon in the next few weeks. Norseman already makes fabric membrane structures and rig enclosures and was a competitor with Cover-All, which made steel frame fabric-covered buildings.Cover-All went […] Read more
Rain could put 12 million acres in limbo
The Canadian Wheat Board predicts that eight to 12 million acres of prairie farmland will remain unseeded this year because of wet conditions.If that figure holds up, it means 15 to 20 percent of cropland in Western Canada will lie dormant this summer.Less than 300,000 acres remain unseeded in a typical year on the Prairies, […] Read more
