Ag News

After four nights of racing High River's Jason Glass is sitting in 4th overall and has qualified for the Semi-Final Saturday at the Battle of the Foothills.

The rain held off and lead to some great racing in the second weekend of Chuckwagon racing in High River.

Glass finished in 5th on the night with Jamie Laboucane racing through in first place, his second time in four nights, and he's sitting in first overall.

Producers should leave adequate sample strips for adjusters to assess crop damage as harvest begins in the southern regions of Saskatchewan and Alberta, according to the Canadian Crop Hail Association. 

CCHA member companies are investigating more than 646 claims of crop damage from storms that occurred July 10-16 

Companies contributing to this report are Rain and Hail Insurance Service, Palliser Insurance, Agriculture Financial Services Corporation and Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation,  

In Saskatchewan there are currently 16 weed species that have been confirmed to be resistant to herbicides. Four are grassy weeds and 12 are broadleaf weeds. The herbicide groups that have one or more weeds resistant to them are Groups 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 14, 15 and 25.

Plants can be herbicide resistant or herbicide tolerant.

Agriculture Minister David Marit says the recent Federal Provincial and Territorial Agriculture Ministers meeting in New Brunswick was one of the most productive meetings he's attended.

Some key news coming out of the discussions for the livestock sector with the ministers agreeing to the creation of a vaccine bank for Foot and Mouth Disease.

Estimates suggest an FMD outbreak would impact our ability to export animals and could cost the industry anywhere from $19.4 Billion to $65 Billion in potential economic impacts.

Friday, July 28th marked the last official day at work for Bruce McArthur.

McArthur, the associate director for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Swift Current Research and Development Centre, started at the facility in May of 2011.

He says he enjoyed his time in the role and has mixed emotions about leaving the post as he loves the work, the people, and what they've been able to accomplish.

An Organic and Low-Input Field Day at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Swift Current Research and Development Centre was well attended and attracted interest from people across the Prairies.

The event went on despite the fact that many of the organic research plots at the site were wiped out by an intense hail storm on Saturday night.

In response to stakeholder concerns, the Canadian Grain Commission is repealing the alignment of primary and export tolerances for test weight and total foreign material for all grades of the following classes of wheat:

• Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS)
• Canada Western Hard White Spring (CWHWS)
• Canada Western Extra Strong (CWES)
• Canada Western Soft White Spring (CWSWS)
• Canada Northern Hard Red (CNHR)

The alignment of total foreign material tolerances for Canada Western Amber Durum (CWAD) is also being repealed.

Small, isolated showers dotted the region this week, but it was little benefit to the crop due to it being far too late in the season. Crops in the region held on through the heat and drought of the growing season, but it has now dried down. Some producers have started harvesting lentils and cereals, such as wheat and barley, are not far behind. Yields will be below average for the region and many producers indicate they will be cutting extremely poor fields for livestock feed.

Manitoba Agriculture, Manitoba Crop Alliance, and FMC Canada have approved the use of Carbine insecticide for lygus bug control in confection sunflowers.

The need for an emergency use registration was identified as a result of the re-evaluation of lambda-cyhalothrin use in Canada.

The warm temperatures and lack of rain in most parts of the southeast have been taking a toll on the crops in southeast Saskatchewan over the past week. This includes heat stress in some crops, as well as reduced yield potential.