The first North American veterinary college honeybee research chair will be located at the University of Saskatchewan. Dr. Sarah Wood is a veterinarian known for her pollinator research.

Wood says bees play an important role in agriculture and with roughly 45 per cent of bee colonies lost last year the work to save the bees is more important then ever.

Saskatchewan students interested in studying agriculture at times had to leave the province for their post secondary education. But that has all changed. Cumberland Regional College in northeast Saskatchewan is offering an agriculture Sciences Certificate program.Chair of Post-secondary Education, Jeff Fisher, said the certificate is in partnership with Lakeland College in Vermillion, Alberta with an emphasis on crop production.

Jeff will explain how the program will be offered and why it's so important for the agriculture sector.

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It's a given that pastures and land growing forages store additional carbon in the soil. The question is how much carbon is stored and which management practices increase forage production.

A new five-year carbon soil mapping study aims to answer those questions. The joint effort between research scientists at the University of Saskatchewan and University of Alberta will be conducted in our province. Cameron Carlyle is a University of Alberta rangeland ecologist.He says the project will quantify the environmental benefits of grazing cattle.

Saskatchewan's pork producers are calling on the federal government to follow the lead of other countries and exempt ground beef and pork from proposed front-of-package labeling that would require symbols indicating products are high in fat, sugar, or sodium. Toby Tschetter is the Chair of the Saskatchewan Pork Development Board. He says the implications for pork and beef producers are concerning.

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The National Farmers Union has updated its report on greenhouse gas emissions . . . using recently released 2020 data. The report said emissions from Canadian agriculture and the production of associated farm inputs is up 35 percent since 1990. NFU Director of Climate Crisis Policy Darrin Qualman will talk about the report and the significance of a 35 per cent increase spread over three decades.

The president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities is worried the soaring cost of fuel could push some farmers off the land. Ray Orb says small family farms are looking at an additional one thousand dollars a day to fuel equipment this year, and larger farms upwards of an additional 5 thousand dollars a day. He says government needs to take action like removing the federal carbon taxes to avoid forcing small farmers out of business.

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All kinds of conditions on the prairies this year. Very dry in the west but wet in Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan which has meant seeding has been delayed. A retired agronomist says broadcasting seeding could be an option on those wet fields.

Ag Direct Hail has created another option for farmers. It is the first and only, exclusively online private crop hail insurance provider on the Prairies. Ag Direct General Manager Sheila Suetta will explain how it works and why farmers are happy with features like the computerized application for repeat customers is efficient and time saving.

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Humans can transmit avian influenza to birds. That message from Dr. Susan Detmer, an Associate Professor with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine. The Saskatchewan government made the move to restrict the movements of birds including pet birds and falcons and refrain from taking birds to shows to reduce the risk that they could pick up, transmit and spread the virus.

She will talk about how the receptors are only in the lower respiratory tract for humans so the chance of it getting is limited. But caution should be exercised.

It doesn't happen very often but when it does traffic accidents involving livestock pose big challenges for first responders. Trent Catley is the director of Saskatchewan Agriculture's Emergency Response and Inspection Unit. He helps producers, drivers, emergency responders, and animal health specialists confidently prepare and respond to livestock transportation emergencies in an organized and safe manner.

With his over 30 years experience in enforcement and emergency response, including 18 years in the fire service, Trent has developed a livestock handling course for the Saskatchewan Volunteer Fire Fighter Association.

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A new agreement has been signed between SeedMaster and John Deere. The SeedMaster Toolbar will be used exclusively with John Deere air seeding equipment. SeedMaster CEO Don Henry calls it a win for both companies and the agriculture industry.

The Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF) is a farmer-funded and farmer-directed non-profit organization that invests in agricultural research that benefits western Canadian farmers. Since 1981, WGRF has funded more than $210 million of research in field crops of interest to western Canadian farmers. The man at the helm has announced he is retiring this year.

Garth Patterson will talk about his work over the past 11 years and some of the research projects planned for this year.

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Canola seeded into cool, over-wet and over-dry soil can be slow to emerge and slow to grow.  That can put seedlings at higher risk of flea beetle damage. Canola Council of Canada agronomy specialist Keith Gabbert says farmers need to prepare seedbeds as well as possible to help the crop outgrow its susceptible stage quickly.

And while seed treatments usually provide effective protection past the riskiest cotyledon stage and a bit longer.... farmers should plan now in case fields suffer heavy flea beetle pressure.

Protein Industries Canada (PIC) played a role in setting up a food science diploma and chemical technology diploma at Assiniboine Community College at Brandon, Manitoba. PIC CEO Bill Greuel says the goal is to ensure an adequate workforce for the evolving plant processing and food manufacturing sector especially with the newly opened Roquette plant in Manitoba.

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A treasure trove of data from the 2021 census of agriculture is being released. Erin Kumar is responsible for the census of agriculture at Statistics Canada. She says the information will provide a sense of what’s going on in the AG sector and how the definition of a farm is changing.

And a team of researchers is taking a look at food security and culture following the pandemic. University of Regina Associate Professor of Social Studies Amber Fletcher says the research will include an online survey asking the public about food supply issues. She will also talk about the goal to resolve at least some food issues.

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Pulse processing in this country is expanding again.

Eat Well Investment Group, which owns Belle Pulses plans to upgrade and expand its production facilities to meet recent demand increases caused by the global food supply chain crisis. Eat Well Chief investment officer Mark Coles says Belle produced approximately 90,000 metric tonnes of protein in 2021 and will be adding up to an additional 15,000 metric tonnes per year of annual production.

Coles will talk about the company's expansion plans and its goal to help support the global food industry.

The recent drought had many thinking of ways to help livestock through these tough conditions. Two University of Saskatchewan research projects aim to help cows, and forage plants deal with stresses. Dr. Greg Penner will discuss the projects that will look at developing drought and salinity-tolerant forage crops and reducing heat stress in dairy cattle.

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Canola Council of Canada says advanced biofuels is a new opportunity for growth
for the country's canola growers.

Earlier this month the Environmental Protection Agency released a proposal that could open the export doors even wider for Canadian canola producers. The proposed plan would recognize renewable diesel and jet fuel made from canola oil as “advanced biofuels” under the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard. Council president Jim Everson is excited about the announcement, as the move to advanced biofuels means the product can be combined with traditional diesel, producing a fuel with lower greenhouse gas emissions. And the U.S. proposes to accept canola oil opposed to raw seed. This creates another opportunity for Canada that right now has 14 processing plants with several more having been announced

Reg Schellenberg, a rancher from Saskatchewan was elected by acclamation as the new president at the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) annual general meeting in Ottawa.

Schellenberg has served as a director in 2010 and was mostly recently CCA vice-president. Schellenberg will talk about the priorities for his term including advocating for the creation of a Foot and Mouth Disease vaccine bank, enhancing the current suite of business risk programs for cattle producers, and increasing market access for Canadian beef in world markets.

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