Ag News

The Agricultural Producers of Saskatchewan are wrapping up their AGM in Saskatoon.

The two-day meeting covered a variety of topics from the fertilizer emissions reduction target, to the vet shortage, grain transportation and contracts.

On Thursday, the President of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture held a fireside chat with delegates. 

Mary Robinson will be stepping aside at the CFA annual general meeting in March after four years in the role.  

In reviewing her term she says there were a number of key issues to deal with.

Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association director Carl Stewart was in Ottawa last week. They were in the federal capital for the GrowCanada Conference that was held from November 29th to December 1st. They had the chance to show support for farmers in a particular way as the Right to Repair bill is currently being debated in the house of commons. 

Researchers have been evaluating the use of a nitrogen inhibitor when fertilizing old forage stands. 

Nitrogen inhibitors are products that are used to prevent the loss of nitrogen through volatilization or through leaching, with the end goal to improve the retention and uptake of nitrogen by the crops.

A three-year ADOPT trial was done focusing on nitrogen inhibitors and fertilizing forage stands in Saskatchewan. 

Results from the trial could prove beneficial for producers across the prairies.

A veterinary professor at the University of Saskatchewan has launched a bovine health podcast that is available on your favourite platform.

Dr. John Campbell, a beef cattle specialist at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine's podcast gives listeners a Canadian perspective on beef cattle health and nutrition.

The target audience is mainly cow-calf producers, but he also plans to include some content for producers involved in feedlot cattle operations.

Mosaic notes that the Colonsay mine had been operating at an annual run rate of 1.3 million tonnes.

The company says inventory levels are sufficient to meet near-term demand with demand returning slower than expected in the second half of 2022.

In a press release announcing the move, President and CEO Joc O'Rourke says the decision to temporarily curtail Colonsay reflects near-term dynamics and not long-term agricultural market fundamentals. 

Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association director Carl Stewart was in Ottawa last week. They were in the federal capital for the GrowCanada Conference that was held from November 29th to December 1st. They had the chance to show support for farmers in a particular way as the Right to Repair bill is currently being debated in the house of commons. 

The Manitoba Dairy Conference continues in Winnipeg. 

David Wiens, Chair of the Dairy Farmers of Manitoba says with rising feed costs and the drought it's been a rough couple of years for producers.

He notes despite that it's important to recognize how dairy producers have given back to communities through Manitoba Harvest.

"We have donated over 333,000 litres of milk this year, and that goes to service food banks throughout the province. So there's over 350 Food Banks in the province that have received one litre cartons of milk and packages of cheese. "

It's been an information-packed week for participants taking in the Canola Industry Meetings in Saskatoon. 

During the event Oilseed Specialist Cory Jacob gave a prairie-wide overview of the 2022 canola crop.

In Alberta, producers seeded 6.5 million acres to canola, about a 2.5 per cent decrease from 2021 and about a 1.1 per cent increase from the five-year average.

He says on average farmers brought in  41.7 bushel yield, which is 44.1 per cent above 2021's drought and about 8.7 percent above the five-year average.

The Bank of Canada raised its key interest rate by half a percentage point or 50 basis points this week, putting the new rate at 4.25 per cent.

It's also signaling it may pause its aggressive rate hike cycle.

Farm Credit Canada's chief economist J.P. Gervais says he hopes we've seen the worst of it.

"My message is that even if there is a major slowdown or even a recession, I would say don't expect interest rates to be lower in 2023."

That can create a dilemma for farms or operations that need to renew loans. 

Canola producers, agronomists and industry representatives are gathering in Saskatoon for Canola Week meetings.

The event kicked off Tuesday with the President of the Canola Council of Canada talking about how important innovation has been for the industry and will continue to be going forward. 

Jim Everson told the crowd that after weathering a couple of tough years we're seeing many promising signs of growing demand.

He says we continue to see growing demand for canola oil and a growing awareness of canola meal advantages as an animal feed ingredient.