Ag News

This year, six individuals will receive $5000 each through the G3 Grow Beyond Scholarship.

The scholarship is open to students (excluding Quebec) who are graduating high school this year and beginning post-secondary education in any field of study. 

G3 CEO Don Chapman says they're excited to help six more Canadian students achieve academic success through the G3 Grow Beyond Scholarship and contribute more ideas to benefit Canadian farms and their capacity to feed the world.

Results from new research projects funded the Alberta Agriculture Funding Consortium will benefit prairie producers.

The AFC consists of 18 agricultural organizations that leverage and coordinate funding to support sustainability, diversification, and long-term growth for agriculture and the food industry in Western Canada.

One of those groups is the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission.

For 2022-23 Sask Wheat has committed over $467,000 to four projects funded through AFC.

Ottawa announced funding this week for farmers looking to upgrade their farming operations to include more efficient grain drying technology.

Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced $22.2 million for 45 new projects through the Agricultural Clean Technology program - Adoption Stream.

The Conservative Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Agri-Food says he's concerned by what he heard in the federal budget.

John Barlow says this is a government that promised to get their their spending under control, get deficits under control and start to work towards a balanced budget - but that obviously did not happen.

Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau says they tried to balance the budget the best they could in terms of so many priorities.

"We wanted to support Canadians because we know that times are hard, and everything is very expensive. So we brought what we call the grocery rebate to be able to give some money to those who need it most, while not putting fuel on the fire and provoking an increase in interest rates."

Yesterday was a key day for farmers as Bill C-234 received its third and final reading in the House of Commons.

Bill C-234 an Act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act would exempt on-farm grain drying from the Carbon Tax.

Conservative Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Agri-Food John Barlow says this is a massive win for Canadian farmers.

"This will reduce or remove the carbon tax from natural gas and propane on farms once it gets through the Senate. So we're hopeful before we rise in June, that will happen."

Soy Canada has announced a new Sustainable Canadian Soy program designed to help increase market opportunities.

Executive Director Brian Innes says the program will really enable producers to continue to have access to high-value markets, which then flow to them. 

Sustainable Canadian Soy is a voluntary program that will be available in 2023 for Canadian soybean growers, grain handlers and exporters.

He says at this time, interest in the program is coming from users of food grade and Identity Preserved soybeans. 

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland delivered her 2023 Federal Budget on Tuesday.

Some of the highlights for the agriculture sector included:

- $57.5 million has been designated over five years for the creation of a Foot and Mouth Disease vaccine bank and to develop emergency response plans 

- $34.1 million over three years through the On-Farm Climate Action Fund has been earmarked for farmers in Eastern Canada that pay tariffs on fertilizer imported from Russia to support nitrogen management practices 

2023 has seen some positive movement in market prices for the cattle sector.

Anne Wasko, a cattle market analyst with Gateway Livestock, says cattle producers have seen some record movement in prices for fat cattle this year setting a new all-time record high for fat cattle in Western Canada breaking the previous 2015 high.

She says the gains the industry has seen are long overdue, noting that in 2022 prices in Western Canada were well off the mark compared to the U.S.

Dr Ron Knox, a research scientist in wheat biotechnology and plant pathology, officially retires this week.

A farmer himself, he began his career as a technician at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Swift Current in the cereals program in 1984, and worked towards his role of becoming a research scientist in 1994.

In his 30+ year career with AAFC Knox has played a key role in the development of numerous wheat varieties and has helped to train the next generation of scientists.