Agriculture

To get an idea of the financial toll extreme weather is taking on this country’s agriculture industry, look no further than the government of Saskatchewan’s books. The prairie province had forecast a more than $1 billion surplus for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, but fresh budget documents released last month show that surplus […]

The 2024-25 Saskatchewan provincial budget features major spending on education, health care, municipalities and capital investments — and has a deficit to go along with it. A projected deficit of $273.2 million is forecast in the budget tabled by Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Donna Harpauer in the legislature Wednesday. It is the final budget of her […]

The current President of SARM confirmed to reporters at the convention this week that he is not intending to seek re-election. Ray Orb says he will not be running again for President when his current two year term comes up in 2025. It means a new President will take the helm, and the election process […]

British Columbia grain farmer Malcolm Odermatt says all he can do is pray for rain this spring after repeated droughts sabotaged his harvest last year. Odermatt, who is also the president of the BC Grain Growers Association, has been working with his father since 2012 to farm about 2,000 acres of land in the Peace […]

The value of Canadian farmland rose 11.5 per cent in 2023, a new report by agriculture lending firm Farm Credit Canada has found.  Chief economist J.P. Gervais said while that’s a slight slowdown from the growth in 2022, it’s still a rapid pace given cooling economic conditions overall. “Farmland prices have continued to increase at […]

The Canadian economy added 41,000 jobs in February as employment gains continue to lag strong population growth in the country. The federal agency’s labour force survey released Friday says the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.8 per cent last month. Job gains were spread across several industries in the services-producing sector, with the strongest employment growth in […]

Snow plows and shovels were out in full force across Saskatchewan after this weekend’s storm that not only brought snow but also gusty winds between 60 and 70 kilometres an hour. A winter storm warning was in effect for southern and central regions of the province, resulting in some roads either closed or travel was […]

The Canadian cattle herd has fallen to its lowest level in more than 30 years. Statistics Canada reports on January 1st, there were 11.1 million cattle and calves on farms, down 2.1 percent from the previous year. That is the lowest number since 1989. Drought conditions and tight feed supplies, along with good prices, resulted […]

There are trending topics every day on social media, on Friday it was Subway and yellow mustard. A Friday morning post on X—formerly known as Twitter—by Canada’s Food Professor Dr. Sylvain Charlebois at Dalhousie University in Halifax started the ball rolling. He said Subway has told its Canadian franchisees that yellow mustard would no longer […]

Making the public aware of what invasive species are and the potential negative impacts it can have on the environment is what the Saskatchewan government is focusing on this week, as it declared Monday to Sunday Invasive Species Awareness Week. Invasive species are non-native plants, animals, insects, and diseases that can be spread unintentionally through […]