Grain Growers of Canada Summer Tour brings MP's out to the farm

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."

Oat crop reaches the milk stage, and the fall rye harvest could begin soon

This week's crop report shows the recent heat has really helped to advance the crop.

Dennis Lange, Manitoba's soybean specialist and puts together the weekly crop report and says fall rye is now in the late dough to dry down stage, with harvest potentially beginning in about ten days. Winter wheat is at the hard dough stage with some dry down starting to occur. 

He says when you look at corn, soybean and dry bean crops things have really started to pick up with the heat.

Farmers with unpaid deliveries to LSM Grain Ltd should contact the CGC immediately

On Tuesday, the Canadian Grain Commission revoked the grain dealer licence of LSM Grain Ltd. in Saskatoon.

Grain farmers in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta may be owed money by this company for grain deliveries.

According to the company's website they handle Organic and Conventional cereals, pulses and oilseeds.

Grain farmers who may be affected could be eligible for compensation through the CGC's Safeguards for Grain Farmers Program. 

CGC pays out $1.2 million in compensation for unpaid deliveries to Zeghers Canada

The Canadian Grain Commission has finished reviewing producer compensation claims for unpaid deliveries to  Zeghers Seed Inc. (operating as Zeghers Canada).

The company held a grain dealer licence and a primary elevator licence for an elevator located in Holland, Manitoba.

 Producers who were not paid for  grain delivered to Zeghers Seed Inc. will be fully compensated for their eligible claims through the Canadian Grain Commission’s Safeguards for Grain Farmers Program.

NCC announces two new conservation projects in Southwest Saskatchewan

The Nature Conservancy of Canada has announced two new projects in Southwest Saskatchewan as part of their effort to protect native Prairie grasslands.

The two parcels of land total 962 acres (389 hectares) in the Rural Municipality of Arlington, located in the eastern part of the Cypress Hills area.

Mike Burak, NCC's natural area manager for southwest Saskatchewan says the land is located northwest of Shaunavon.

Federal Agriculture Minister announces 13 semi-finalists in the Agricultural Methane Reduction Challenge

The $12-million Challenge, launched in November 2023 in partnership with Impact Canada, uses a staged approach to move innovators through the process of developing and deploying their solutions in the cow-calf, dairy and feedlot sectors. The first stage of the Challenge attracted 86 applications from innovators across Canada and internationally. The 13 semi-finalists' entries span a diverse range of areas including feed additives and related technologies; production efficiencies and animal management systems; and pasture and grazing management approaches.

Canadian dairy industry receives $8.5 million earmarked for traceability and quality assurance

Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay announced $8.5 million for two projects led by Dairy Farmers of Canada.

“Dairy farms are at the heart of so many communities across the country, and I know just how hard our dairy farmers work to provide us with top-quality products while caring for their animals and the environment. Today’s investment is about giving Dairy Farmers of Canada the support they need to help farmers adopt sustainable practices to lower emissions, and improve the traceability and safety of dairy products.”

FPT Ag Ministers discussed a number of key issues during their annual conference including the need to improve producer programs

Federal, Provincial and Territorial Agriculture Ministers spent time talking about ways to improve the Business Risk Management programs during their annual conference last week in Whitehorse.

A press release from the event noted that FPT Ministers of Agriculture discussed several areas of interest for Canada's agriculture and agri-food sector. 

There's a lot going on in the field

Farmers are scouting fields on a regular basis for signs of insect damage or disease.

Insect activity varies from area to area and province to province with producers reporting issues with wireworms, grasshoppers, aphids, the pea leaf weevil and more.

Dr  Meghan Vankosky, a research scientist in field crop entamology with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada says it definitely proving to be a very interesting growing season.

They've just wrapped up the annual phermone trap monitoring program for bertha armyworm in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Wheatland Conservation Area Field Day shares research with area farmers

Farmers taking part in Wheatland Conservation Area Annual Field Day on Thursday had a chance to see some of the research being done.

The Pioneer Co-op Agronomy Centre is running three trials with Wheatland one of which focuses on fungicides on Lentils.

Lead Agrologist Jennifer Bingham says the reason they wanted to do the trial is that fungicides are pretty common on lentils due to the prevalence of anthracnose in Southwest Saskatchewan.