(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Drier conditions will influence feeder market

Reading Time: 2 minutes The feeder market was hard to define this week. The quality of yearlings was quite variable. Fleshier types were heavily discounted while quality packages were unchanged from seven days earlier. Calf prices were mostly unchanged; however, values were down $4-$6 in drier pockets of southern Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba. Southern Alberta barley prices were quoted […] Read more

File photo of cattle grazing on Prince Edward Island. (ArodPEI/iStock/Getty Images)

Eastern drought zones set for livestock tax deferrals

Regions designated in P.E.I., N.S., N.B., Quebec

Reading Time: 3 minutes In a decision that may have come late for some, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and parts of southeastern Quebec and northwestern Nova Scotia have been declared drought zones for eligible livestock producers’ 2020 tax purposes. The federal government on Monday released its list and map of prescribed drought regions where tax deferral on sales […] Read more


Walmart Canada bills itself as the first retailer in the country with an on-pack certified-sustainable claim for a line of beef products. (CNW Group/Walmart Canada)

Walmart locks in CRSB claim for in-store beef brand

Chain to be first retailer in Canada with certified-sustainable label on pack

Reading Time: 2 minutes The Canadian arm of Walmart has locked in enough of a supply of certified-sustainable beef to label its entire Your Fresh Market burger patty line accordingly. The retail giant announced Monday it’s now sourcing beef from “certified sustainable” farms and ranches according to standards set by the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB). The company […] Read more

(Kevin_LS/iStock/Getty Images)

Rural, remote crime targeted in Tory MP’s bill

Bill would consider crimes' settings during sentencing

Reading Time: 2 minutes An Alberta Conservative MP is trying to tackle rural crime by introducing a law that would punish more severely those accused of targeting remote, and vulnerable, people or property. Red Deer-Lacombe MP Blaine Calkins introduced his private member’s bill for first reading in the House of Commons on Tuesday. “Rural Canadians too often don’t feel […] Read more


Percentage of average precipitation in Western Canada for the 90 days ending April 5, 2021. (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada map)

Manitoba forage, grassland growers burned by drought

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — An ongoing lack of precipitation, which is showing no signs of letting up in the coming months according to weather forecasts, is already causing problems for Manitoba’s forage and grasslands. Growers in the province have had to deal with three straight years with lower-than-normal precipitation. In 2019, multiple rural municipalities in Manitoba’s Parkland […] Read more

(Lightguard/iStock/Getty Images)

Saskatchewan to pare school tax mill rate for farmland

EPT mill rates to rise for residential, other properties

Reading Time: 2 minutes Saskatchewan’s latest budget taps down the education property tax (EPT) mill rate it sets on farmland, while raising those mill rates on other property classes. The provincial government, in Tuesday’s budget, set the provincewide EPT mill rate on agricultural land for 2021 at 1.36, down slightly from the previous rate of 1.43. EPT mill rates […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Farmland appreciation continues through pandemic year

FCC report puts Canada's average land value increase at 5.4 per cent

Reading Time: 3 minutes Economic churn across Canada from the global COVID-19 pandemic didn’t faze the country’s real estate market — nor its farmland market in particular — in 2020, according to the latest review from the federal farm lending agency. Farm Credit Canada on Monday released its 2020 Farmland Values report, showing an average increase of 5.4 per […] Read more

File photo of Highway 363 near Moose Jaw, Sask. (Mysticenergy/iStock/Getty Images)

Spring road bans coming into effect across Prairies

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Warming temperatures and melting snow across Western Canada may cause some disruptions to grain and livestock movement over the next few weeks as seasonal spring road restrictions come into effect across the Prairies. The annual spring road restrictions set axle weight limits for vehicles moving on certain roads in an effort to reduce […] Read more


The High Level Bridge in Lethbridge, Alta., is the longest and highest bridge of its type on Earth.

Farming’s hottest boomtown

Guide Canada: Lethbridge has emerged as one of Canada’s hottest centres of farm and ag entrepreneurialism. How hot is that? Well, read on…

Reading Time: 11 minutes Ask anyone what they think of when they think of Alberta, and the same handful of images always come to mind. Think Banff, Jasper and the rolling foothills for a start. Now, add Lethbridge, especially if you’re a farmer. Then think excitement. Young people might be fleeing other parts of rural Canada, but not here. […] Read more

AFSC CEO Darryl Kay announced a 20 per cent cut in farmers’ AgriInsurance premiums for the 2021 crop year on Jan. 25. (AFSC video screengrab via YouTube)

Alberta crop insurer taps reserve to cut premiums

AFSC to pare premiums by 20 per cent

Reading Time: 2 minutes The reserve at Alberta’s Crown crop insurance agency will be tapped to offset the premiums charged to farmers for the 2021 crop year, and possibly for longer. The province’s Agriculture Financial Services Corp. (AFSC) said Monday its farmer customers will get a 20 per cent discount on crop insurance premiums this year — which on […] Read more