MarketsFarm – Development for roughly a third of the spring cereals and nearly half of the oilseed crops in Saskatchewan are behind normal, according to the latest provincial crop report. About 55 per cent of the canola crop is at its normal stage of development, with 44 per cent behind. Spring cereals are at 67 […] Read more
Development behind normal for many Saskatchewan crops: report
Livestock producers receive tax relief for 2019
Drought in Western Canada and Quebec has prompted the federal government to release an initial list of regions eligible for livestock tax deferrals. The livestock tax deferral provision allows livestock producers in prescribed drought, flood or excess moisture regions to defer a portion of their 2019 sale proceeds of breeding livestock until 2020 to help […] Read more
Ag ministers aim for AgriStability upgrades for 2020
Coming out of their meeting in Quebec City, Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial ministers for agriculture say they plan to meet again before year’s end to see about improving the AgriStability program for 2020. In a statement Friday, the ministers said they discussed “adjustments that could improve existing (business risk management) programs to address the […] Read more
Crop development varies across Alberta
Alberta Crop Report: Conditions as of July 16
Reading Time: 5 minutes Cooler than normal temperatures have prevailed in the past month across most of Alberta resulting in a slight setback of approximately a week for many fields. Combined with the dry conditions throughout the South, East and Peace regions and higher than normal precipitation along the foothills and North West region, the crop conditions and staging […] Read more
Prairie hay shortage on horizon
MarketsFarm — While rain across the Prairies has eased concerns of an all-out drought, worries of a hay shortage going into winter haven’t ceased. Darren Chapman, a Virden, Man. producer and chair of the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association (MFGA), explained that regrowth following the first cut of hay has been strong. First-cut hay crops […] Read more
Rain turns fortunes around for many, but not all
In the north and central regions, crops are looking very good, but the south and Peace are suffering
Reading Time: 3 minutes Some much-needed moisture during the month of June may have turned this year’s crop prospects around — at least in some parts of the province. “It’s been an interesting growing season so far — from a very dry May to the central areas getting quite a bit of precipitation in June,” provincial crop specialist Mark […] Read more
U.S. to move BLM headquarters to Colorado
Reuters — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management will move its headquarters to Colorado from Washington, officials said on Tuesday, sparking ire from conservationists who said the decision would weaken the agency dedicated to managing the country’s vast public lands. The Department of Interior, which oversees BLM, announced the move in letters to key congressional […] Read more
Livestock feed webinar series underway
Reading Time: < 1 minute A livestock feed webinar series is underway. The first webinar on grazing options for dry conditions took place on July 4 but there are eight more in the series: feeding economics (July 18, co-operating with cropping neighbours (Aug. 1), safely grazing hay lands (Aug. 15), alternate feed myths (Aug. 29), effective culling (Sept. 12) feed […] Read more
Consultations begin online for replacing Alberta’s Bill 6
A new online survey and direct consultations this summer are expected to inform the new Alberta government’s plans to swap out its predecessor’s legislation on farm and ranch worker protection. Alberta’s governing United Conservatives — who made repeal and replacement of Bill 6 a core plank of their platform before unseating the NDP government back […] Read more
Alberta to lengthen public leases for ‘exemplary’ ranching
Ranchers who display “exemplary” stewardship as tenants on Alberta’s public lands could soon be eligible for double the term of the usual lease. The province announced Tuesday it expects the new policy to come into effect in late autumn this year and “in the coming months” will release new guidelines on what would be considered […] Read more