Sask Pulse Winter Pulse Meetings get underway next week

The Saskatchewan Pulse Growers held a  virtual pulse variety seminar this week where they focused on some key varieties for producers.

In the yellow pea category, CDC Meadow remains the dominant variety while other varieties like CDC Inca, CDC Spectrum,  AAC Carver, and CDC Chrome are
gaining acres.

Agronomy Manager Meagan Reed says new and emerging and upcoming yellow pea varieties that have been released over the last four years are hitting the market now.

Saskatchewan Agriculture is back with the 'Celebrating Rural Ranching Women' event.

Women from around the southwest will be gathering in Rockglen this year for the 7th annual Celebrating Rural Ranching Women event.

The two-day event is dedicated to celebrating the strength of Saskatchewan’s rural women. 

Livestock and feed extension specialist Jordan Johnson says this year's event runs February 1st and 2nd with Thursdays session focusing on ranch management.

New Fusarium Head Blight monitoring tool coming for 2024 growing season

Fusarium Head Blight is considered by many to be the worst fungal disease for cereal crops.

The disease is mainly driven by warm humid conditions, the last time we saw a major outbreak in the Prairies was back in 2016.

Dr Paul Bullock is a senior scholar and former professor at the University of Manitoba.

He says the best line of defense when it comes to fusarium is growing a variety that has a good level of resistance.

Federal funding announced for 192 projects across the country to strengthen local food security

This week, Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay announced nearly $10 million in funding through the Local Food Infrastructure Fund (LFIF) to strengthen local food security.

This funding will support up to 192 new community-led projects across the country through investments in equipment and infrastructure needs to help improve the accessibility of nutritious, local food.

Peer-to-peer Ag info sharing through centralized website

Each year the panel of judges at Ag Days' Innovation Showcase scrutinize, dissect, interview the creators and weigh the benefits of each entry; how does this innovation benefit the Ag industry as a whole?

This year the new online peer-to-peer help-mate website Combinesettings.com placed first in this week's Ag Technology category.

Father-son team, Pat and Trevor Scherman, brought two generations of experience and ingenuity together first with their SCHERGAIN drop pan, affixed behind a combine to measure the amount of loss during harvest.  

Early seed tests suggests germination levels look good heading into 2024


Farmers have been busy sending seed samples into seed labs across the prairies to determine the seed vitality for the upcoming growing season.

Knowing the germination and vigor of the seed plays an important role in seeding operations.

Germination refers to the capability of the seed to sprout, while vigour refers to the ability of the seed to establish under stressful conditions.

If numbers for germ and vigour are to low, or the disease numbers are to high farmers may want to look at purchasing seed.

A worksite incident results in a major fine

A Saskatchewan poultry company has been fined $46,000 relating to a workplace injury.

Pedigree Poultry Ltd. based in the Lumsden area pled guilty earlier this month to one violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations.

The charges stem from a worksite incident that occurred on July 10, 2021, near Regina Beach.

The worker suffered a serious injury after their foot became entangled in a horizontal auger system.

As a result of these charges, the court imposed a fine of $32,857.14, with a surcharge of $13,142.86, for a total amount of $46,000.

Optimism in the sheep industry for 2024

The 'Business of Sheep' was the focus of the Saskatchewan Sheep Development Board's recent AGM and Symposium.

Executive Director Gordon Schroeder says there's a lot of optimism in the industry right now as they see younger families entering the industry. 

"We're seeing larger commercial operations expanding. So we're quite optimistic about the future of the industry, even though we're going through a little bit of a low right now, but prices are picking up as well. So we're confident in 2024. "