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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Healthy soils retain carbon and are an unsung hero waiting in the wings to tackle climate change. That's the main message of a new 52 page report released by the Soil Conservation Council of Canada . . . and the Compost Council of Canada.

The report says if properly managed . . . Canada's 175 million acres of agricultural and urban soils can be developed to increase and retail more carbon . . . helping the country meet its greenhouse emission targets. The Executive Director of the Soil Conservation Council of Canada Jim Tokarchuk and Glenn Munroe, the reports co-author, will tell us about the report and how that information will be shared.

Escalating tensions in eastern Europe have the potential to destabilize food production globally. It's also causing havoc on many markets. Florian Possberg, a partner with Polar Pork Farms says one of the biggest concerns will be on how this will impact the availability of feed grain which has already been an issue since last year.

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The federal government tabled its new emissions reduction plan as required under the net-zero emissions law passed last year. It projects the oil and gas industry will need to cut greenhouse emissions by 42 per cent by the end of the decade from current levels.

Agriculture accounts for about 10 per cent of that total and the challenge will be to reduce that to net zero by the year 2050. Branden Leslie with the Grain Growers of Canada says his organization will be working with the federal government to meet those targets without impacting producer profitability and he will share the path forward focusing on innovation, research, and beneficial management practices.

This is the second year of a summer program to give veterinary students more experience working with pigs. It's supported by industry and is open to first- and second-year students in the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan.

Dr. John Harding is a professor in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Services. He'll share more about the program and what they hope to accomplish

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The work stoppage at CP Rail lasted for two days . . . before the two sides agreed to let the dispute enter binding arbitration. There is plenty of relief that CP service resumed without having to go through the lengthy process of back-to-work legislation for the 3,000 engineers, conductors, train and yard workers.

Greg Northey is the Vice President of Corporate Affair with Pulse Canada. He will tell us how long it will take to clear up the backlog of products shipped by rail and there is also the potential for another rail dispute late in the 2022 calendar year.

COVID-19 and now inflation are changing the average Canadian's food purchasing habits. Francis Parisien is the vice-president of Nielson IQ . . . a leading retail and consumer intelligence firm, which breaks down enormous amounts of shopper data into trends.

While it is comparatively small right now . . . he says a growing trend is on-line grocery shopping.

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Even with the threat of interest rate increases it appears farmers are still hungry for land. Farm Credit Canada Chief economist J.P. Gervais shares the results of the 2021 Farmland values report.

He says the price for the country's farmland climbed despite impacts from pandemic supply chain disruptions and adverse weather that affected parts of the country.

India has lifted fumigation requirements for Canadian pulse imports. This comes as the two countries have agreed to resume free trade negotiations.

Pulse Canada chair Corey Loessin tells us why this news is important to pulse growers and how much of an impact the recent concerns of global food security had on moving this process forward.

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