(Dave Bedard photo)

Canpotex aims for ‘material’ potash price bump from China

Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters — Canadian potash exporter Canpotex is pressing Chinese buyers to pay a “material” price increase for the fertilizer in their annual supply contract, as spot values in other markets rise off multi-year lows, Canpotex’s chief executive said on Monday. “We’re not interested in some kind of ratcheting down. That is for sure,” […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

G3 to build two more Saskatchewan elevators

Reading Time: < 1 minute The grain company formerly known as CWB has picked sites and plans to start construction next month on two new grain elevators in Saskatchewan. G3 Canada on Tuesday announced it will build primary elevators about five km north of Melville on Highway 10 and seven km west of Saskatoon on Highway 14, to be ready […] Read more


Location of the bread and durum wheat fields surveyed in 20 crop districts across Saskatchewan, from 2001 to 2012.

Is climate change making leaf diseases worse?

Durum quality took a beating last year, and climate change could see more of the same

Reading Time: 3 minutes It is difficult — even impossible — to define the precise relationship between climate change and disease incidence and severity in Western Canada. But new research from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Swift Current Research and Development Centre is contributing a few pieces to the puzzle. Research scientist Myriam Fernandez says breeding for resistance to the […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Saskatchewan tightens up powers on Crown land

Reading Time: 2 minutes New legislation giving the Saskatchewan government more powers to prevent misuse of Crown land, and more leeway in dealing with leaseholders, is now in effect. The province on Monday announced its new Provincial Lands Act and related regulations, introduced in the legislature last June, have been formally proclaimed and are now in effect, updating rules […] Read more


Southeastern Saskatchewan’s accumulated snowpack, as shown here east of Weyburn on March 9, i expected to lead to above-normal runoff in the area. (Leeann Minogue photo)

Runoff levels up in Saskatchewan’s forecast

Reading Time: 2 minutes Saskatchewan has raised its expectations for spring runoff across the board, now predicting “near normal” levels for much of the province and “above normal” to “well above normal” levels in its southeast. The province’s Water Security Agency on Thursday released a March spring runoff forecast pointing to two “areas of concern” — the province’s far […] Read more

A rail car from SGCC’s fleet. (Dave Bedard photo)

Saskatchewan ponders changes to ag extension model

Reading Time: 2 minutes Saskatchewan’s agriculture ministry is considering an overhaul of its delivery system for ag extension services, in time for a new federal/provincial funding framework next year. Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart on Tuesday announced a new online survey on the subject for farmers, ranchers and agribusiness operators, running until the end of the month. Extension delivery in […] Read more


Five uses for provincial machinery rate guides

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[...]
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Premier Stephen Harper and Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger examine flooded areas around Brandon in July 2014. (PMO photo by Jill Thompson)

Major flood risks seen in southern Manitoba

Reading Time: 2 minutes Areas of Manitoba are at moderate to major risk of flooding, according to the province’s first full flood outlook for the spring. Levels of future snowfall and/or rainfall, the timing and speed of snowmelt, and the runoff timing in Manitoba, the U.S., Saskatchewan and Ontario are still “key factors,” the provincial government said Monday in[...]
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A rail car from SGCC’s fleet. (Dave Bedard photo)

Warm Saskatchewan weather spells early load limits

Reading Time: < 1 minute A long spell of spring-like weather in Saskatchewan’s southwest has softened roads to the point where winter weights are about to be removed. Increased winter weights will end in southwestern Saskatchewan, including several major roads and 70 rural municipalities, starting at 12:01 a.m. Friday (Feb. 24), the provincial highways department announced Wednesday. Affected roads will[...]
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(WSask.ca)

Saskatchewan approves largest multi-farm drainage plan

Reading Time: 2 minutes Saskatchewan’s provincial Water Security Agency has signed off on what it describes as the largest single agricultural drainage project in the province’s history, with more projects of a similar scale to come. The province announced Thursday it has issued a single approval for 73 landowners in the province’s southeast to set up an “organized and[...]
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