Ag News

Livestock producers in Alberta are getting another chance to apply to receive drought recovery support.

The 2023 Canada-Alberta Drought Livestock Assistance initiative has been expanded to include 23 new regions for eligibility and the deadline to apply has been extended.

Dr Michelle Hubbard a Research Scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Swift Current is working with a team of researchers across the prairies to try and find out what's happening.

The emerging health issue first started showing up on chickpea plants in 2019 in the Assiniboia and Coronach areas.

The symptoms vary from leaf tip chlorosis and wilting all the way to complete plant death.

The Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN) is highlighting results of the agtech research & innovation projects it is supporting through its 2022 Open Competition and its Beef & Pork Primary Processing Automation & Robotics Program.

Darrell Petras, CAAIN’s CEO says through the program they look for Canadian companies that are developing technology that will provide significant value to Canadian farmers through artificial intelligence.

The 2023 Canada-Saskatchewan Feed Program and the Livestock Tax Deferral Program have been expanded to help more producers deal with the drought and dry conditions. 

Agriculture Minister David Marit says another ten RM's have been added and are eligible for up to $150 per head.

The additional RM's include the RM's of  Lumsden, Sherwood, Bratt’s Lake, Edenwold, Lajord, South Qu’Appelle and North Qu’Appelle, as well as the RM's of Britannia, Rosthern, and Bayne.

The cattle industry has seen strong prices in the feeder markets, with the lightweight feeder cattle bringing the largest average price increases compared to the previous week. 

According to the Manitoba Cattle Marketing Report, the 401 to 500 pound steers had an average price of $411.88 per cwt and $351.08 per cwt for the same weight of heifers. The biggest jump for feeder steers came in the 501 - 600 pound category for an average of $ 389.21 per cwt.

D1-D2 cows averaged $119.88 per cwt, while D3 cows averaged $103.20 per cwt

Over the last few years there's been more of an emphasis put on the importance of monitoring your mental health and learning how to deal with and limit stress.

Life on the farm or ranch can be highly stressful Lesley Kelly understands it all to well as a farmer and a strong advocate for mental health and agriculture.

She says we think of a stressful harvest, or the stress of moving animals, etc, but sometimes stress can be more than a season.

The return to warmer weather is helping the railways clear some of the backlog after the slowdown in grain movement during the recent cold snap.

Elizabeth Hucker, CPKC's assistant vice president of sales and marketing for bulk says that extreme cold dipped as far as Louisiana, and covered much of CPKC's network. 

She says operations slowed due to the cold, but thanks to their experienced crews they were able to keep things moving.

Last week the federal and provincial levels of governments announced a $1.5 million investment to the Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) for the FarmSafe Manitoba program, to promote safe and healthy farm operations in Manitoba.

Trade negotiations between Canada and the U.K. are at a standstill after the U.K. suspended talks last week.

The President of the Canadian Cattle Association Nathan Phinney says he's disappointed with the halt in negotiations, adding that Canadian beef exports into the area is a key issue right now.

MP's are back to work today in Ottawa following the Christmas break.

Over the last few weeks, MPs have been spending time in their ridings meeting with their constituents to discuss their concerns.

They'll be raising those concerns with their colleagues back in Ottawa.

A key issue for the agriculture sector and one of the first Bills expected to hit the floor this week for discussion is Bill C-234.