Ag News

The Nature Conservancy of Canada has completed its first project in Alberta under its new Prairie Grasslands Action Plan

The Gabert-Meeting Creek property is 129 hectares located in the Aspen Parklands in Camrose County.

Jeremy Hogan, NCC's program director for Prairie Grasslands Conservation says the Gabert family have lived and farmed in the area since 1974,  and now Terry and Faith have signed a conservation agreement with NCC.

Farmers have been making the most of the weather as they push through this year's harvest.

So far, 51 per cent of the provincial harvest is in, that's up from 33 per cent last week,  and ahead of the five-year average of 34 per cent.

Old's College of Agriculture and Technology was one of the stops for the Senate Agriculture Committee as they gathered more information for their upcoming report on Canada's Soil Health.

The vice president of research at Old's Dr Joy Agnew says they talked about the need and benefit of investing in agricultural research and the fact that funding for college-based research should be reviewed.

Agnew says they talked about some of the work being done at the "SMART" farm, with a key emphasis on the work they are doing around environmental stewardship.

Recent rain in some areas of Manitoba resulted in another delay with the harvest.

This week's crop report shows 37 per cent of the provincial crop is now in.

The winter cereal harvest is now complete with winter wheat yields averaging 60 bushels an acre, while fall rye averaged 70 bushels an acre.

Dennis Lange is the Provincial Pulse Specialist and puts together the weekly crop report.

With much of the prairies especially (Saskatchewan and southern Alberta) experiencing drought conditions wildfire risk is a key concern this fall.

The Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation (SWF) and the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association (SSGA) urging hunters to take extra precautions in high-risk areas as the hunting seasons get underway, especially where ATV and other vehicles may be involved.

Wildfire risk is expected to remain above average across Saskatchewan this fall - especially in the Southwest and West Central areas.

The University of Saskatchewan (USask) has received close to $12 million from Genome (G-nome) Canada’s Climate-Smart Agriculture and Food Systems initiative (CSAFS).

The funding is earmarked for climate-related research projects focusing on sustainable and resilient agriculture with the overall goal of exploring innovative and sustainable solutions for Canada’s food chain and agricultural production.

Recent rain in some areas of Manitoba causing another delay in the harvest.

This week's crop report shows 37 per cent of the provincial crop is now in.

The winter cereal harvest is now complete with winter wheat yields averaging 60 bushels an acre, while fall rye averaged 70 bushels an acre.

Dennis Lange is the Provincial Pulse Specialist and puts together the weekly crop report.

The Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association is calling on Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay to put in the federal government's portion of the Agri-Recovery Funds.

In the letter to the minister, Keith Day noted that the Province recently announced their portion of the funding which is $70 million.

Day says some cattle producers are now in their fourth or fifth year of drought resulting in feed shortages going into the fall
and winter.

The Federal-Provincial program paid out over $60.4 million for this year with the majority of those payments going to producers in the southwest and west central regions.

The Federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Lawrence MacAulay says this record high level of payments to producers is a testament to the need for, and value of, the AgriInsurance Program.

"While producers face ongoing risks related to climate change and extreme weather events, the support of Business Risk Management programs provides some level of stability against income and production loss."

For many generations, the Almanac has been found in many homes as a general guide to what we can expect to see with its long-term forecast.

The Old Farmer's Almanac with its yellow cover has been published continuously every September since 1792.

Taking a look at the Canadian edition it is predicting some moisture for what has been some of the drier areas in the Prairies this fall.

Managing Editor Jack Burnett says they're predicting average temperatures for September with temperatures a little bit (about four degrees) warmer in October.