WestCentral

The Swift Current Arts Council's upcoming lineup has landed a Canadian country star.

Rocanville, Saskatchewan's Jess Moskaluke will make her only, currently scheduled, stop on a country-wide tour in her hometown province on September 25 at the Living Sky Casino's Events Centre. 

Helen Arnold, the administrator for the Swift Current Arts Council, announced on Magic 97's morning show Monday morning that Moskaluke will fill out their 2025/26 Stars for Saskatchewan series lineup. 

KERROBERT, Sask. — The Town of Kerrobert has issued a fire ban, effective immediately, due to elevated fire risk conditions.

In a notice posted Monday afternoon, town officials stated that all fires are prohibited within the town limits as of 3:45 p.m. on June 2. The ban will remain in place until further notice.

The advisory includes open fires, fire pits, and any controlled burns. Residents are being asked to take all necessary precautions and adhere to the restrictions to prevent the risk of wildfire.

Farm groups across the prairies are always looking for producers to take an active role in helping to determine the organization goals.

The nomination period is now open for director positions with the Saskatchewan Barley Development Commission (SaskBarley), Saskatchewan Pulse Growers (SPG), Saskatchewan Mustard Development Commission (Sask Mustard) and Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission (Sask Wheat).

The federal government is investing $15 million into Protein Industries Canada; the funding is being used to strengthen Canada's agri-food sector.

The new funding will focus on genomics and AI programs by bringing new tools to plant breeders, farmers, ingredient processors, and food manufacturers.

The programs will enable farmers and companies across Canada’s agrifood sector to build a more resilient, efficient, and sustainable food system. 

Alberta is working on strengthening its market presence in Southeast Asia.

Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation RJ Sigurdson is in Southeast Asia to promote Alberta as a reliable supplier of agricultural products.

The overall goal is to strengthen relationships with Vietnam and the Philippines to increase trade and investment opportunities that 
will directly benefit producers and processors by opening new markets for Alberta agriculture and food products.

Farm Credit Canada is investing $2 billion to advance agtech innovation in Canada’s agriculture and food industry. 

The money which will be invested by 2030 will direct more investment into innovative devices, instrumentation, research, and methodologies designed to improve efficiency, productivity, and sustainability.

Stats show Canada’s agtech sector is lagging, putting Canada at a strategic disadvantage, while Japan  and the European Union have been increasing investments in ag tech.

Alberta's latest crop report shows 90 per cent of the provincial crop is now in; that's ahead of the 5-year average of 81 per cent. 

Roy Larsen, the director of Statistics and Data Development for Agriculture and Irrigation says seeding progress in the South is at 97 per cent complete, the North West at 93 per cent, the Central region is at 89 per cent, the North East at 86  per cent, and the Peace at 84 per cent.

Crop progress shows 99 per cent of the dry peas have been planted, while oats lag behind at 74 per cent. 

It's setting up to be another strong PBR Canada season for Eatonia's Dakota Buttar. The local bull riding athlete didn't place this past weekend at the Ripley Ruble Touring Pro Division event in Melfort, but is coming off a few strong finishes in May that helped him to the second spot on the leaderboard entering June.

Football season is in the air around Saskatchewan. Not only are the Saskatchewan Roughriders set to kick off the CFL regular season on Thursday against Ottawa, but spring high school football is getting underway with local teams using their allotted practice time.

The Kindersley Kobras football team is confirmed to be holding their spring camp starting Monday. Any Kindersley students in Grade 6-11 are welcome to come out and try football this week June 2-6 with daily practices from 4-6 PM.

The western side of the province continued to lead the pack looking at last week's crop report. 

Here in west-central Saskatchewan producers are 94 per cent done seeding as notable progress continued during the week with a 13 per cent rise from last week, pushing the region well ahead of the five-year average of 86 per cent, and current provincial average of 88 per cent.