Ag News

The Canadian Cattle Young Leaders (CYL) Program has announced its 16 finalists for the 2023-2024 program year.

The goal of the program is to offer young people the opportunity to receive industry-specific training and mentorship opportunities to take the Canadian beef industry into the future.

With the harvest rolling along it won't be long before farmers will be looking at shipping that grain to market.

Elizabeth Hucker, the assistant vice-president of marketing and sales for bulk with CPKC  says they have been busy holding meetings with customers to try and determine their needs.

She notes that while people are well aware of the drought conditions that exist in southern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewa, in other areas such as southeastern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the crop and yields look really good.

In a ranching operation, weeds can reduce forage quality and quantity and spread quickly if left unmanaged.

Range Management Extension Specialist Luke Jorgenson says weed management should have a year-round approach.

He says it all starts with taking the time to familiarize yourself with local hay and pasture weeds. 

"It's essential to be able to identify these weeds, especially during the fall. So producers should be able to recognize noxious weeds like Canada thistle, common tansy, leafy spurge, absence, and baby's breath."

The Senate Ag Committee is back in Ottawa after a road trip to the Canadian prairies last week.

The group spent two days in Saskatchewan, and two in Alberta as part of their work looking at Canada's Soil Health.

The committee has heard numerous presentations in Ottawa and through Zoom but felt it was important to get out and see what's happening.

Alberta Senator Paula Simons says they visited a number of areas in Alberta with different kinds of farming and ranching operations. 

Farmers in most areas of the prairies whould have made good progress with the harvest over the long weekend.

It will be interesting to see just where this week's numbers sit.

Thunderstorms during the summer can be isolated or cut a fairly large swath, in some cases bringing high winds and damaging hail.

Scott McQueen, president of the Canadian Crop Hail Association says anything can happen yet but it appears hail loss numbers should be
lower in most areas this year than they were in 2021.

As the dry conditions persist in the west-central region, producers have been able to progress through harvest with minimal interruption. Harvest is now 39 per cent complete, ahead of the five-year average of 25 per cent.

Farmers in their fields this long weekend will be attempting to get done a big chunk of harvest. Around the west-central region things around nearly half-done, according to the latest crop report.

A harvest project north of Swift Current that's helping combat world hunger has its crop in the bin.

The Lone Tree community project hauled in just over 11 bushels per acre on its large green lentils crop that was taken off by Pattison Agriculture.

Jared Wright, the landowner and one of the organizers, said his dad started the fundraiser in partnership with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank over 15 years ago.

Members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry have moved to Alberta on their fact-finding mission as part of the new study on Soil Health in Canada.