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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A Saskatchewan teenager was able to share her love for the sport of cutting horses during a recent livestock show in Regina. The sport involves a horse and a rider trying to separate one animal from a herd of cattle. Zoe Schellenberg not only participates in the sport but is also the youth director for Saskatchewan, for the National Cutting Horse Association.

She was instrumental in getting virtual reality goggles for their booth at Agribition. She talks about the things she loves about the sport.

Producer voices are needed at the table when there are discussions around sustainability and agriculture. Farmers for Climate Solutions have put a call out for farmers and ranchers to part of select Forums across the Prairies in early 2024. Recommendations coming out of the forums will be included in a report to be released later in the year. Gordon Bacon is a co-lead for the forums. He says they want to sit down and have an open and frank discussion about sustainability, carbon emissions, and solutions going forward while still focusing on profitability.

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Manitoba Ag Days is a three-day show held in January in Brandon that highlights agriculture production, technology, and equipment and attracts exhibitors and visitors from across Canada and the United States. The Keystone Centre is the home to the trade show that showcases new and unique products and guest speakers.

Terese Vallotton is the media coordinator for AG Days.She shares what's new at this year's event and explains why those face-to-face conversations are so important in the ag industry.

Online hackers are becoming more sophisticated, so, there is a need for stepped up awareness and heightened cybersecurity. Cathy Lennon, the General Manager of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, explains cybersecurity is about protecting any of your assets that are attached to the internet, be it a cell phone, an iPad or anything in your tractor or your barn that is potentially vulnerable to attack through the internet.

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An Edmonton based veterinary consultant believes by improving the design of the loadout, pork producers can improve the biosecurity of their farms and reduce the risk of disease transmission.

Dr. Julia Keenliside says the loadout is the area of the barn where finisher pigs or cull sows or isoweans or sometimes deadstock are loaded onto the truck. Sometimes animals will enter the barn through the loadout. She says the project was inspired by a large outbreak of PED in Manitoba in the spring of 2022.

Protein Industries Canada has released “The Road to $25 Billion,” an updated roadmap for Canada’s ingredient manufacturing, food processing, and bio-products sector. It includes a goal of $25 billion in revenue by 2035.

Bill Greuel, the CEO of Protein Industries Canada, says the country's agriculture and food sector has long been undervalued as an economic driver with trading partners importing raw commodities. He says its time to generate value through ingredient manufacturing, food production, and bio-product development.

Greuel will discuss the steps required to meet its target, including investing in infrastructure, trade, and domestic processing.

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The Broadway Theatre in Saskatoon was the location of an award-winning film on regenerative agriculture. Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association hosted the premiere of the documentary "Common Ground" earlier this month.

Derek Axten is the president of SaskSoil. He says the film examines the benefits of healthy soil and its impact on climate AND he hopes it is the jumping off point for meaningful discussion on regenerative agriculture.

A new cull sow processing facility in Saskatchewan is expected to generate economic spin offs for the next 30 to 40 years. North 49 Foods is ramping up operations at its new state-of-the-art sow processing facility at Moose Jaw. The federally inspected plant is on the site of the former XL beef plant and has the capacity to process up to 225 thousand sows annually.

North 49 Foods industry relations manager Neil Ketilson says the project has received tremendous support from producers and industry leaders across Western Canada.

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I’m away this week.  Here’s one of my favourite episodes to tide you over until I’m back.

Agriculture technology is helping to fight COVID-19 and play a role in preparations for future pandemics. A recent article in Nature Biotechnology said the current pandemic shows the need to mobilize efforts on a large scale to ramp up diagnostics and testing. The lead author is Steve Webb, chief executive officer of the Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) at the University of Saskatchewan. Webb will explain how the tools used in plant breeding—like genetic testing and sequencing, are the same as those use in the pharmaceutical and health care fields.

The Canadian Beef Industry Conference usually attract hundreds of cattle producers, as well as the other players in the beef industry to Calgary, Alberta. But instead the conference was held entirely on-line due to COVID-19.

The opening keynote speaker was from London, England. David Hughes is an Emeritus Professor of Food Marketing at Imperial College. He is considered an expert in global food issues and opportunities. He spoke about food trends and the steps the cattle industry needs to take in order to be sustainable and strong.

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