Ag News

CN Rail reported a continued slowdown in grain movement for the month of May as farmers' focus shifted to seeding.

David Przednowek,  the assistant vice president of grain for CN Rail says it's not a surprise adding that the majority of grain has already moved through the system.

He notes something that remains a concern is the wildfire situation.

The Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation teamed up with the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association on a new report looking at Term Conservation Easement Compensation.

A term conservation easement is a specific block of time that a landowner agrees to, where the land will not be broken up for annual cropping.

The SSGF's Communication Specialist Mindy Hockley says TCE compensation rewards those landowners for keeping their grasslands intact, through financial incentives that better account for the loss of potential revenue of annual crop production. 

Viterra and Canadian Foodgrains Bank are teaming up again to End Global Hunger

The partnership is now going into it's eigth consecutive year. 
 
This year,  Viterra is providing 172 acres of land around four of its grain terminals in Alberta and Saskatchewan for Canadian Foodgrains Growing Projects.

Alberta's Environmental Farm Plan program has released its latest version of the webbook.

Version 4.0  is more streamlined and includes an optional beekeeping chapter and an online renewal option.

Farmers can renew their EFP online without having to complete a new workbook each time. 

It's important to note that producers that may still be working on the 3.1 version of the EVP have until June 30th to complete it.

After the June 30th deadline producers will be required to use the new 4.0 version.

Results from eight research activities are included in the Integrated Crop Agronomy Cluster (ICAC)  summary document.

The new report outlines the projects which range from soil health to herbicide resistance and climate change adaptation. 

Some of the other projects focused on the coordination of crop insects and disease monitoring, assessing and managing spray drift, developing a risk model for mitigating Fusarium head blight, development, and management of productive, resilient, and sustainable cropping.

Enterprise Machine Intelligence & Learning Initiative (or EMILI) out of Manitoba has joined the group.

The Pan-Canadian Smart Farm Network was launched in 2021, it's a network of Smart Farms from across the Prairies.

Network participants include Olds College which leads the program, as well as Lakeland College out of Alberta,  the Discovery Farm and the U of S Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence (LFCE)  in Saskatchewan and from Manitoba - EMILI and the Manitoba Beef & Forage Initiatives Inc. 

Olds College of Agriculture & Technology Board of Governors has a new Chair. 

Ted Menzies will serve in the role after being a member of the Board since 2020,

A former MP Menzies had a career in primary production and policy development for the agri-food sector and international trade.

Work is officially underway on the new expansion at the Louis Dreyfus Canola Processing Facility at Yorkton.

Premier Scott Moe was on hand for the official sod-turning event.

He noted that Canola is a key part of our provincial economy and Saskatchewan’s Growth Plan. 

"That is why we’re committed to increasing canola crushing in our province to 75 per cent by 2030. This expansion project will put us on track to exceed that goal, which means more jobs and opportunities for the great people of our province."

Participants in the Canadian Cattle Young Leaders program gathered in Calgary this week for their annual Spring Forum.

This annual event brings together the program’s 16 participants from across Canada for three days of industry tours, classroom sessions, and networking events.

The CCA's Youth Leadership Co-ordinator Jessica Radau says it's a great opportunity for the group.

The province is looking for public input on their proposed changes to the Agricultural Crown Lands Leases and Permits Regulation.

Agriculture Minister Derek Johnson says agricultural crown lands are used by approximately 1,750 forage leaseholders on 10,750 leased land parcels, primarily for grazing and haying, supporting nearly 90,000 cattle for the grazing season.