Reading Time: 2 minutes Alberta’s farmed-commodity commissions may soon be able to make their checkoffs non-refundable again if their producer members are willing. The provincial government on Tuesday tabled amendments to the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act (MAPA) which would grant each of the province’s 13 agricultural commissions the ability to determine whether their checkoffs should be refundable or […] Read more
Alberta to restore non-refundable checkoff option
Wet spring hampers Prairie fertilizer timetable
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — This week’s dump of snow in eastern Saskatchewan and western Manitoba will likely push back fieldwork and fertilizer applications on a lot of farms, according to one crop watcher. Keystone Agricultural Producers president Dan Mazier, speaking from a conference in the U.S., said only about 50 per cent of the normal amount […] Read more
Proposed labour rules for Alberta farms go public
Reading Time: 3 minutes The Alberta public will get about a month to speak its mind on proposed changes to provincial labour laws, with the goal of applying those changes to farms and ranches. The province on Monday released a pair of reports from technical working groups (TWGs) reviewing farm and ranch operations’ status under the Employment Standards Code […] Read more
Five uses for provincial machinery rate guides
The new provincial Machinery Guides for 2016-17 have been published on each Prairie province’s website. These guides show rental or custom rates for commonly used machinery. Dan Schmeiser, manager of the farm business management services section in the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, says “the purpose of the Guide is to provide approximate costs for renting[...]
Read more
Read more
A+W books sales growth despite Prairie ‘challenges’
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadian burger and root beer chain A+W has chalked up another year of same-store sales growth despite “economic challenges” in the Alberta and Saskatchewan markets. Posting its year-end results on Tuesday, A+W’s Vancouver-based income fund reported same-store sales growth of 3.4 per cent in 2016 over 2015, down from a 7.6 per cent sales growth[...]
Read more
Read more
Canada reintroduces bison to Banff National Park
Reading Time: 2 minutes Calgary | Reuters — Parks Canada has reintroduced a herd of plains bison to the country’s oldest national park in Banff, Alta., officials said on Monday, more than 130 years after the iconic North American animal last grazed the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies. The conservation team moved 16 bison from a protected herd[...]
Read more
Read more
Bovine TB probe’s focus turns to infected herd
Reading Time: 3 minutes With no new cases of bovine tuberculosis discovered on the Prairies since mid-November, federal officials are now turning their focus to how the disease got into half a dozen cattle in the region last fall. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Friday it has finished TB-screening and depopulating all mature cattle from 18 properties that[...]
Read more
Read more
P+H to expand Alberta ag retail reach
Reading Time: 2 minutes Grain company Parrish and Heimbecker plans to expand its crop input retail space into east-central Alberta by buying four store sites in a federally-mandated sale. The privately-held Winnipeg firm on Monday announced it has reached an agreement with Agrium’s retail arm, Crop Production Services, to buy the sites at Sedgewick, Wainwright, St. Paul and Marwayne.[...]
Read more
Read more
Quarantines added in bovine TB probe
Reading Time: 2 minutes Federal inspectors’ search for animals exposed to one of six Alberta cattle confirmed with bovine tuberculosis (TB) has led them to quarantine more farm sites for testing. As of Wednesday, “approximately 50” farm sites, mostly in southeastern Alberta with “approximately five” in southwestern Saskatchewan, are under quarantine and movement controls, affecting about 26,000 animals, the[...]
Read more
Read more
Six quarantines lifted in bovine TB probe
Reading Time: < 1 minute Six premises deemed to be “low-risk” have been released from federal quarantine as officials continue their hunt for Alberta and Saskatchewan cattle exposed to bovine tuberculosis. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Wednesday reported it had lifted movement controls on six premises where “appropriate testing” has been completed on cattle so far in the agency’s[...]
Read more
Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
