Winter cereals checkoff The Saskatchewan Winter Cereals Development Commission is collecting check-off funds. As of Oct. 1, the commission has been collecting a mandatory but refundable producer checkoff of 50 cents per tonne on winter wheat, fall rye and winter triticale. It will be deducted by buyers at the first point of sale and is […] Read more
News
Ag Notes
CFIA talks tough on U.S. produce
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency may have to impose drastic import restrictions on fresh produce from California if Canadian concerns about its safety are not cleared up, a senior CFIA official said last week. Bashir Manji, acting director of the agency’s food-of-plant-origin division, told the House of Commons agriculture committee Oct. 17 that CFIA officials […] Read more
Stock Sales
Oct. 28: Commercial cattle show and sale, Edam, Sask., 306-397-2727 Oct. 29: Hill Country Classic Shorthorn sale, Lloydminster, 306-825-2674 Nov. 4: Bison auction, Drayton Valley, Alta., 780-542-4337 Nov. 11: Bison auction, Beaverlodge, Alta., 780-354-2423 Nov. 15: Bison auction, North Battleford, Sask., 306-445-5000 Dec. 2: Bison auction, Drayton Valley, Alta., 780-542-4337 Dec. 6: Bison auction, North […] Read more
Sugar plant in jeopardy
Rogers Sugar executives are on Parliament Hill this week warning that American proposals to restrict market access for a sugar beet product could close the company’s sugar refinery in Taber, Alta. And that, say representatives and defenders of the sugar beet industry, would be a bitter blow for southern Alberta. “These proposed changes would have […] Read more
Think outside the diversification box and give yourself room to shine – The Bottom Line
If you’re thinking of diversifying your farm operations, you are likely considering something agricultural. But another way to diversify is to use the skills you’ve developed while farming to move into a non-farming business. That’s what Ken Rempel did, and while his story is unusual – not everyone with a welding torch goes from farmyard […] Read more
Vote may prove crucial to fate of wheat board
The choice has never been so clear, nor the stakes so high. As the federal government moves ahead with plans to replace the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly with an open market for wheat and barley, tens of thousands of grain farmers in Western Canada have a chance in the next few weeks to send a […] Read more
Gov’t agency halts glyphosate imports early
Sharon Hart dotted all her i’s and crossed all her t’s when filling out an Own Use Import application to bring in 3,000 litres of glyphosate from the United States. She sent the form before the Sept. 30 application deadline. “Now the Pest Management Regulatory Agency is not willing to recognize our import permit and […] Read more
U.S. determined on vegetable inspection
The United States has no intention of backing away from contentious proposals to increase border inspection of fruit and vegetable imports from Canada, but it may be able to make it less obtrusive and costly, the senior U.S. agriculture official in Ottawa said last week. Gary Groves, minister-counselor at the U.S. embassy in Ottawa representing […] Read more
Strahl plans time line for decision on CWB
Federal agriculture minister Chuck Strahl says that by the beginning of the next crop year, he wants to have transformed the Canadian Wheat Board into a voluntary marketer competing with other grain trade players. In the winter, he will tell farmers what he plans so they can make their spring seeding decisions accordingly. By the […] Read more
Import program onerous: PMRA
The Pest Management Regulatory Agency says the controversial Own Use Import program has been a huge drain on its resources. In 2006, the agency approved 3,309 permits to import 6.38 million litres of ClearOut 41 Plus glyphosate from the United States. That is up slightly from the 3,146 permits and 5.73 million litres of chemical […] Read more