Featured

Changes are occurring in farm financing. At the Crossroads Crop Conference underway in Calgary, a lender highlighted some of the financing trends.  ATB Financial is a provincial body that lends primarily in Alberta, but Jonathan Neutons, ATB’s head of agriculture, addressed farm finance changes occurring across the prairies. One of the big changes has been […]

Livestock producers considering compensation for incurring extraordinary costs related to feed and/or transportation last year, due to drought conditions, have two extra weeks to apply to the Canada-Saskatchewan Feed Program. The provincial government announced Tuesday that the application deadline has been extended to March 15; that date would also apply to eligible expenses incurred from […]

Producer payment security is not a top-of-mind issue for producers until suddenly a grain buyer runs into financial difficulty and they aren’t paid for their delivered grain. Even if you think this will never happen to you, the current system is still costing you money. There should be a better way. In simple terms, grain […]

Some call it a “mystery chickpea disease” while researchers refer to it as an “emerging health issue” The problem surfaced in 2019 in the Gravelbourg, Assiniboia and Coronach regions of southern Saskatchewan.  It reappeared again the following year. Both those years featured early dry conditions followed by a big dump of rain.   Chickpea plants had […]

A private member’s bill that would provide relief for Canadian farmers from the federal carbon tax, on natural gas and propane used for grain drying, will likely dominate discussion on Parliament Hill as MP’s and Senators return to work Monday following the holiday break. Before the break, members of the Senate passed two amendments to […]

A resolution to increase the provincial portion of the beef checkoff was passed on Wednesday at the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association (SCA) annual general meeting in Regina. The resolution called for a $1.50 per head increase in the checkoff starting April 1st, 2025.  The new total would be $3.50 with the money used to fund research, […]

The United Kingdom deciding to suspend bi-lateral trade negotiations with Canada over a handful of issues may be a tactic that could backfire, according to Canada’s High Commissioner Ralph Goodale. On Thursday, the U.K. announced the suspension of talks after Canada decided not to extend two temporary trade measures – a special quota on U.K. […]

The seeded acreages for flax and mustard are expected to drop dramatically this spring while large acreage increases are expected for oats, chickpeas and lentils.  Meanwhile, the price of almost every grain, oilseed and specialty crop is expected to drop, and in some cases, the declines are large. The projections are in the latest outlook by […]

There will be no strike at Viterra, as employees voted in favour of the offer presented to them.  The General and Grain Services Union, which represents 436 Viterra workers of Local 1 (Viterra Country Operations and Maintenance) and Local 2 (Viterra Regina Head Office), tallied the votes Friday on the January 4 offer from the […]

The union which represents about 436 Viterra employees is counting members votes Friday on accepting or rejecting the company’s latest offer. Negotiations for a new deal between the General and Grain Services Union Locals 1 & 2 and Viterra Canada Inc have been ongoing for over a year, but stalled over wages, a better work-life […]