Ag News

Ottawa's 18-month extended interswitching trial for the railways begins today.

Interswitching involves a shipper negotiating the transfer of a product between two rail companies, with one railway taking it part of the way, and then transferring it to a competing railway to take it the rest of the way.

CPKC's assistant vice president of marketing and sales for bulk is Elizabeth Hucker

The Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association holds its first district meeting tonight in Eastend.

CEO Grant McLellan is encouraging producers to take part as it gives producers an opportunity to find out what's happening within the organization and the beef industry.

He notes the drought is expected to be a key part of the discussions this year, adding they'll review the government programs that are available for producers.

The Keystone Agricultural Producers are encouraging producers to make sure their local candidates and party leaders understand the priorities for agriculture.

President Jill Verwey says the 2023 provincial election is critical.

"The decisions made by legislators hold considerable sway over the lives of Manitoba producers like myself, as these choices invariably impact our operations. "

Manitoba's weekly report shows feeder steer prices dropped off with the biggest drop of $41.79 recorded for the 401 to 500 pound steers for an average price of $423.21
Feeder heifers also saw a drop in all weight categories other than the 401 to 500 pound girls which saw a price increase of $10.75  to $353

The slaughter cow price also seeing a drop in Manitoba with the average price for D1-D2 's coming in at $132.14 and $112.50 for D3's

MP's are back in Ottawa as the fall session of the House of Commons gets underway.

Conservative Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Agri-Food, and Food Security, John Barlow spent time traveling the country speaking with farmers and producers talking about the issues that are important to them.

"What are some of the things they're concerned about? What's working? What's not? You know, despite being in different parts of the country, a lot of the concerns we're pretty unanimous from one end of Canada to the other."

Sargeant Paul Leaden with the CN Police Service says this year marks the 20th anniversary of Rail Safety Week and it's a good time to remind everyone about the dangers of unsafe behavior around trains.

The west-central region now has 78 per cent of this year’s crop off, and the end of harvest is looming on the horizon. The region is ahead of the five-year average of 60 per cent.

Producers are taking off the last of their spring cereals this week and are now focusing on their oilseeds. Barley is 91 per cent harvested, durum is at 88 per cent, spring wheat at 85 per cent and oats at 64 per cent. Canola is 59 per cent harvested, while mustard is 58 per cent and flax is 34 per cent. Soybeans are 90 per cent harvested for the year and chickpea harvest was completed this week.

Alberta's Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation RJ Sigurdson will lead a trade mission to South Korea and Japan to promote the province's ag sector.

As part of the trade mission, he'll meet with agri-businesses, government officials, and media to talk about trade and investment opportunities here at home.

Sigurdson says Alberta has a welcoming business climate and commitment to supplying innovative, reliable, and safe agricultural products.

In 2023, Canadian farmers are projected to produce more corn for grain and soybeans, but less wheat, canola, barley, and oats, compared with 2022, according to recent yield model estimates using satellite imagery and agroclimatic data. Decreased production for most crops was driven by lower yields related to dry conditions in Western Canada.

The Governments of Canada and Saskatchewan handed out a record level of payments through the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation’s (SCIC) Forage Rainfall Insurance Program. 

Over 90 per cent of the insured acres received a payment through the program. A total of $60.4 million in indemnities was paid across SCIC’s 17 forage risk zones. 

Payments were issued to producers on Aug. 18.