Ag News

4-H Canada has been forced to reorganize its operations after Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada cut their support to the national youth development program by 35 percent, resulting in the layoff of seven staff members last week.

Interim CEO Hugh Maynard says over the last ten years, 4-H Canada has received plus or minus $1,000,000 in funding from Agriculture Canada.

Some of that money (it varies from year to year) is considered flow-through money, 4-H Canada receives it and then distributes it to the provincial organizations for their programming.

Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn says a total of $16.3  million in Federal-Provincial funding will go to support 101 research and innovation projects.

Projects being funded vary from resDefinitely. There's always an interesting component about new seed varieties possibly and actually opportunities of fertilizer. We work a lot with the university as you know and I think those are a lot of projects that are being done right now at the university along with other agencies.

This winter has been relatively dry and any snow we have seen hasn't been enough to recharge moisture conditions.

Agri-Climate Specialist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Trevor Hadwen says we're going to need timely, consistent rains before seeding and throughout the growing season.

This week's provincial budget included a 4.1 per cent increase or $22.4 million for the agriculture budget.

The $1.5 billion agriculture budget includes $431.7 million to fund federal-provincial risk management programs and $89.4 million for strategic initiatives under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership.

Agriculture Minister David Marit says he's pleased with the agriculture budget with the enhancements they made to the crop insurance file as well as adding another 38 weather stations.

World Water Day is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis.

Across the prairies, several projects are also happening to protect and support our access to a good, clean water source now and into the future.

In Manitoba ... Manitoba Habitat Conservancy has approved $11.6 million in funding to help achieve a diverse array of on-the-ground water and land conservation initiatives focused on preserving wetlands, waterways, and other habitats. 

The Province is investing $3.2 million in the development of the Western Crop Innovations (WCI).

WCI will carry on the work of the Field Crop Development Centre at Lacombe starting April 1st.

Current programming is under review and where necessary will be transitioned ... FCDC which has been around since 1973  is known for its barley breeding program.

Agriculture and Irrigation Minister RJ Sigurdson says it's an exciting time for crop research in Alberta.

CN Rail has seen solid grain movement over the last couple of weeks. 

CN's Assistant Vice-President of Grain David Przednowek says they've moved over 525 thousand tonnes of grain per week.

"We expect that demand is going to remain quite steady here into early April, then we'll see what the market brings us. What the impact of starting to shift gears and think about spring seeding will do as well as the impact of road bands."

Weed management throughout the growing season is a key concern for farmers.

Bayer Canada held a weed management webinar this week.

Kate Hadley, a Market Development Agronomist with Bayer says weed resistance is growing across the prairies with 60 per cent of herbicide-resistant wild oats now showing resistance to Group 1 herbicides.

It may be the first day of Spring according to the calendar, but snow is in the forecast for several areas across the prairies.

Environment Canada has issued a weather warning for much of Alberta with 10 to 30 cm of snow expected by Friday morning with higher amounts of snow possible over the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.

Drew Lerner with World Weather Inc says snow is also moving into Saskatchewan today.

This month is Canadian Agricultural Literacy Month.

Yesterday, marked Agriculture Awareness Day, Agriculture in the Classroom Manitoba (AITC-M)  is a key player in bringing awareness to the agriculture industry.

AITC-M is a non-profit charitable organization with a mandate to connect students with agriculture through innovative curriculum-based programs and resources. 

Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn says the Province partners with AITC-M to deliver programming to 7,400 Manitoba students about the importance of agriculture,