Each year, a survey is conducted in late May through early June to track the movement of pea leaf weevil throughout Saskatchewan. Provincial insect specialist James Tansey says the pest is on the move with northern and eastern Saskatchewan experiencing the worst infestations.

A new pulse processing plant is coming to Saskatchewan.

Louis Dreyfus Company announced a new pea protein isolate production plant at the same site as its existing canola crush facility at Yorkton. Construction is expected to begin in 2024, with completion projected for the end of 2025. The plant will employ around 60 people.

Saskatchewan Pulse Growers executive director Carl Potts talks about the new plant and the importance of having a secure, domestic market for Saskatchewan peas.

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CN Rail signed a deal to purchase Iowa Northern Railway. The Iowa Northern operates 275 miles of track that connects to CN's U.S. rail network. 

David Przednowek, the Assistant Vice President of Grain for CN Rail, says they are very excited about the transaction as Iowa Northern is a great rail property with a very heavy agricultural focus.

The United Kingdom announced the suspension of talks after Canada decided not to extend two temporary trade measures – a special quota on U.K. cheese exports, which expired in December 2023, and country-of-origin rules on products being exported, which is set to expire at the end of March.

Those measures were in place since Britain left the European Union. Canadian Cattle Association President Nathan Phinney said the other major issue revolves around Canadian beef.

The U.K. doesn’t allow hormone-treated beef and pork imports from Canada but is able to export approximately 40,000 tons of beef to Canada annually. Phinney says he wasn't surprised by the UK's move and discusses Canada's next step.

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Researchers are looking at biomarkers as an indicator of animal welfare.
Biological markers are observable characteristics that can be measured to determine whether an animal is in a state of good health and well being.

Darian Pollock is a PhD candidate in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences at the University of Saskatchewan's Western College of Veterinary Medicine.

She says the objective of the study was to identify indicators of welfare, and in the case of her work, measuring chronic stress.

Seed germination and vigour for the 2024 crop in Saskatchewan is looking quite good at this point. Discovery Seed Labs in Saskatoon compiled a report for the Saskatchewan Seed Growers Association in early January.

Molecular Lab Manager Sandy Junek says seed germination rates are very close to what they were last year across all crops followed by strong vigour. He says barley and flax were the only crops that dropped of a bit and cereal and pulse crop disease are present . . . but at manageable levels.

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Baiting and trapping is proving to be the most effective method for controlling wild pigs. The Coordinator of Squeal on Pigs Manitoba Dr Wayne Lees says this is the best way to eliminate them from the landscape.

He says wild pigs are a pest as they can contaminate water sources, damage natural habitats and farm crops, and can spread different diseases to commercial and small-scale livestock. Dr.  Lees will tell us about the program and some of the most common signs there may be wild pigs in your area.

The Executive Director of Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan says with an increasing smaller percentage of the population involved in the production of food it's important for those who are engaged in agriculture to be ready to share their stories.

Clinton Monchuk says many consumers have a basic idea of what's happening in food production but the not the technologies or practices farmers use. He says the more farmers can get out there and engage with consumers, the more knowledge consumers will have.

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The Western College of Veterinary Medicine's three year Foreign-Trained Veterinarian Swine Medicine Residency Certification program is opening more doors for vets. The program, one of four pillars of the University of Saskatchewan's swine medicine advancement, recruitment and training or SMART program, targets internationally trained veterinarians who are working in non-veterinary roles in the Canadian swine industry.

Dr. John Harding says this program is designed to retool internationally trained veterinarians as swine specialists initially in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

It was a lot warmer than normal in Saskatchewan in December----now we know exactly how much.Terri Lang is an Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist based in Saskatoon. Most centres had warmer December temperatures than during the last major El Nino in 1997.

Lang talks about some of the record breaking temperatures and whether we can expect a warmer than normal winter.

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The House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women has been focusing on some of the specific issues rural women face on a day-to-day basis. Rural connectivity was discussed at a recent committee meeting.

Saskatchewan farmer and rancher Adrienne Ivey had a chance to share her challenges with internet and cell phone service and how it impacts the family and farming operation.

Farmer Jake Leguee has been writing a blog for a few years now. It was a way for him to share his thoughts on important topics like GMO's and the use of crop protection products. In his most recent post, he talked about his concern surrounding communication.  He called it Have We Forgotten How to Talk to Each Other.

I talk to Jake about his blog and why he is concerned about how we are losing the ability to have conversations especially when we do not agree.

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There has been much more attention focused on the mental health of Canadian producers. Many suffer in silence. We continue our conversation with Gerry Friesen a Stress & Conflict Management Specialist and mental health advocate. On the last episode he shared his story on being diagnosed with depression and how he brought his illness into the open and made the decision to seek help.

As a recovering farmer Gerry talks about the stresses associated with agriculture, how to cope with the things in life we cannot control and how just talking to someone can be very therapeutic.


And, a report on women in agriculture sees both challenges and opportunities. Dr. Amber Fletcher is an associate professor with the University of Regina. She says women face challenges of sexism, discrimination, and access to financing.... but attitudes are changing.

Amber will share the report's eight recommendation to support women in agriculture, including more childcare support and access to training.

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Autosteer is a form of precision agriculture most farmers use . . . but the toolbox is growing rapidly due to new technology. Don Campbell is a Field Smart Agronomist at Western Sales in Rosetown, Sask. He says precision agriculture aims to optimize each region of the field and create maximum return on investment. Campbell says precision agriculture technology is improving every year.

It's a brown Christmas for many parts of the prairies. While there has been some snow and rain more moisture is needed across the prairies. Trevor Hadwen an Agroclimate Specialist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) says its certainly drier than we would like to be. Hadwen shares the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's drought monitoring map.

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Do More Ag Foundation says more and more farmers are reaching out and asking for help because of the devastating effects of drought. The dry and hot conditions have impacted both the cattle and grain side.

Executive Director Adele Stewart says farmers need to be supported and encouraged to take care of their mental well being now and, in the days, to come.

I talked to Adelle last fall about the work of the organization and the importance of producers needing to know they are not alone, and they have an entire industry behind them.

Dominican Republic is experiencing an outbreak of African Swine Fever. Dr. Paul Sundberg is the Executive Director of the Swine Health Information Center. Sundberg says he is confident the first outbreak of African Swine Fever identified in the Western Hemisphere in more than 40 years will not alter the level of risk for North America.

Sundberg explains the outbreak was identified through a cooperative surveillance program where banked tissue samples from sick, dying, and dead pigs as well as feral pigs collected in the Dominican Republic are sent to the USDA's Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Lab.

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The Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture released its 2023 Grasshopper Survey. While parts of west-central Saskatchewan seemed to be a hot spot there was significant and damaging grasshopper populations seen in Central, Southwest, and far Southeastern regions.

Dr. James Tansey, provincial Insect/Pest Management specialist talks about population density, concerns about the unusually warm fall and its possible impact on grasshopper populations in 2024.

The federal government and the canola sector will team up for another five-year research cluster. The feds are putting up $9 million in funding. The 2023–2028 Canola AgriScience Research Cluster follows a similar program from 2018.

Canola Council of Canada vice president of crop production and innovation Curtis Rempel will talk about how the model supports projects intended to address significant national priorities like increasing canola productivity, helping the canola sector meet global demands, and improve the industry’s competitiveness globally, all with an eye to sustainability.

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