Agricultural News

Saskatchewan's weekly crop report is in and showing a slight increase in planting over the last year.

“Provincially our reporters are indicating we have five per cent of the 2012 crop seeded,” said Grant McLean with Saskatchewan Agriculture. “In the north east less than one per cent has been seeded, there’s some peas and lentils being reported going into the ground in the north east.”

NDP opposition members are raising concerns about the government selling off 60 federal community pastures in Saskatchewan.

Ottawa is walking away from the federal pastures in Saskatchewan to save money and most of the 720-thousand hectares will revert to the control of the province.

Opposition critic Cathy Sproule says some farmers may not be able to afford to buy the land. She says they may lose their business.

Agriculture Minister Bob Bjornerudsays he is putting together a five-member farm panel to determine the best course of action.

It’s been a slow start to seeding this year but two per cent of the provinces 2012 crop is now in the ground.

Saskatchewan Agriculture’s Weekly Crop Report reported that provincially seven per cent of the peas, three per cent of the lentils and two per cent of the spring wheat and durum have now been seeded.

The provinces south west region has seeded about six per cent, while the south east region is reporting seeding three per cent.

Entering the final week of April, some Saskatchewan farmers were able to begin spring seeding.

According to the latest crop report by the ministry of agriculture, a small amount of lentils and peas have been planted in some southern areas where the weather has been warm enough.

“The majority of … producers are waiting for a few more weeks in some cases for the soil to dry up or to warm up before the begin seeding in earnest,” said Grant McLean, crop specialist with the ministry.

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz was in North Battleford Wednesday to unveil a grain sorting technology which will help capture a larger quantity of kernels

The sorter, which uses infrared light technology to analyze and sift grains based on protein, hardness and starch content, was installed at the Canadian Feed Research Centre, a world class feed processing research and teaching centre affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan.

There is a lot of talk between those people working on community pastures - they've heard that the program is the victim of federal budget cuts.

But, nothing has been confirmed leaving people wondering if they will be privatized or passed over to the provincial government, said Scott Sigfusson, who works at a community pasture near Davidson.

They run about 4,000 acres of pasture, which has almost returned to its natural grassland state, even with around 80 cattle grazing in it.

There is good news for farmers who don’t get all their seeds in the ground this year.

The 2012 crop insurance program includes an unseeded acreage benefit of up to $100 per eligible acre.

This is just one of the improvements announced today, by the provincial and federal governments as they rolled out this year’s program.

Saskatchewan's premier wants to see wheat back in the province's fields.

Brad Wall is announcing a $10 million funding measure aimed at wheat-related research. Wall says the formerly-dominant crop has lost ground in recent years to canola and pulse crops which have proven more profitable.

He wants to pay researchers to come up with new varieties of the crop. He also feels better yield, quality, and tolerance to disease and harsh weather will help encourage farmers to turn back to the old standard.

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Cathy Gale with Farm Credit Canada says the average value of agricultural land in Saskatchewan jumped 11.6 per cent from January to the end of June.

In the previous two six-month periods, farmland values increased by 2.7 per cent and 2.9 per cent respectively.

“In the last 10 or 15 years we haven’t (seen this). This is the biggest jump we’ve seen,” she said.

That's more than double the gains in both Alberta and Manitoba. Saskatchewan experienced the highest gains in the country.

Meetings will be running all week for members of the Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association.

There is a meeting tonight at 7p.m. at the Spiritwood Civic Centre.

"We're going to be talking about forage insurance, price insurance, and we will be going through some other things that the CCA President will bring up as well," said Ryan Sommerfeld, director of district 9-A.

CCA President Travis Toews will be the guest speaker.

The Harper government is set to introduce legislation on Tuesday that will allow it to wipe out the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly on marketing prairie wheat and durum.

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said the Board's monopoly has outlived its usefulness.