Ag News

Saskatchewan's former Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart has lost his battle with cancer.

The 73-year-old served six terms as MLA for the former Thunder Creek consistency now known as the Morse-Lumsden riding from 1999 to 2023.

He was one of the 25 Sask Party MLAs to be elected in their first election as a party in 1999.

Premier Scott Moe shared on social media that Lyle's quiet strength and dedication to the people he served were an example to all of us who served with him.  

The Manitoba Livestock Marketing Association (MLMA) is holding their largest fundraiser of the year this Thursday at the Killarney Lakeside Golf Club.  The annual event draws over 250 people from across the province, all stakeholders in Manitoba's cattle industry.

MLMA Executive Administrator, Rick Wright, says tomorrow's Cattlemen's Classic Golf Tournament will host about 200 on the course and then another 50 or more to the evening supper.

The MLMA represents auction mart owners, livestock dealers, livestock traders and numerous feedlot owners.

There's been a definite increase in grain moving to market as farmers look to clear out bin space for the new harvest.

Elizabeth Hucker, the assistant vice-president of sales and marketing for bulk with CPKC says in grain shipping week #51 they moved just shy of 400,000 metric tonnes to Vancouver, Thunder Bay, Eastern Canada, the United States and to Mexico all out of Western Canada. 

She notes back to around week #49 they were shipping around that 400,000 metric tonne level, adding that movement is stronger than what we would normally see this time of  the year.

Alberta Agriculture's latest crop report shows crops have started to decline with the prolonged heat wave. In just one week, major crop conditions have gone from 73 per cent good to excellent  to 55 per cent good to excellent.

Despite a late start to seeding, harvest operations are starting to get underway in the Prairies.

Precipitation which delayed seeding activity this spring was welcome in some of the drier areas, while some areas of Manitoba were impacted by too much rain.

The extreme heat with highs into the 30s is now impacting crop potential in some areas of Alberta and Saskatchewan reducing yield and quality expectations.

Getting this year's hay crop cut in top condition has been a challenge across the prairies.

The heat over the last couple of weeks is resulting in a decline not just in crops, but in hay quality as well.

Hay conditions have been slowly declining since we started seeing the higher temperatures with many days hitting well into the 30's.

The WADO Field Day & Bus Tour took place last week Thursday in and around the Melita area to check out the crop trial test plots.

This was the first time during the annual WADO Field Day where a touring bus was used to help with travel to the different locations.  With the heatwave the air-conditioned touring bus was a welcome relief.

Applied Research Specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, Scott Chalmers, says the hot and humid weather is certainly contributing to the healthy growth across the board when it comes to crops.

Manitoba's agriculture sector will have access to key tools to help advance the industry in the growing world of digital technology

EMILI - the Enterprise Machine Intelligence and Learning Initiative - will receive over $2 million in Federal/Provincial funding to advance Digital Agriculture Opportunities.

Premier Wab Kinew says he sees this investment as being key to helping the province, the ag industry and farmers adapt to new challenges and opportunities in the ever-changing digital world.

The Canadian Charolais Youth Association is holding its National Show and Conference this week in Swift Current. 

Darwin Rosso, a director with the Canadian Charolais Association says it's great to see the youth involvement.

"It's very important to see the participation of the youth because they're the future of our breed down the road"

The event kicked off on Wednesday, with 92 youth members from Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Rosso says there are a lot of activities for the participants with a lot of educational components.

The Grain Growers of Canada executive director Kyle Larkin has been on the road this week driving from Winnipeg to Calgary as part of the GGC's Summer Tour.

The tour kicked off on Monday, when he visited Doug Martin's farm at East Selkirk, Manitoba with MP Kevin Lamoureux.

"We discussed a number of issues, including the Capital Gains Tax increase, the carbon tax, potential rail strike. You know, there's a lot of issues out there right now impacting grain farmers and we're just here to raise awareness of them over the summer."