THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2016
VOL. 94 | NO. 30 | $4.25
TORNADO HITS |
SERVING WESTERN CANADIAN FARM FAMILIES SINCE 1923
TRANSPORTATION ACT REVIEW
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FAMILY STAYING POSITIVE
P. 13
WWW.PRODUCER.COM
UP, UP AND AWAY WITH SPRAY
SHEEP ORGANIZATION
Farmers not asked for input
National sheep group members pull out
Ag groups miffed for not getting invite to meetings on grain transportation
The announcement is bad news for producers, says federation chair
BY KAREN BRIERE
CALGARY BUREAU
BY BARBARA DUCKWORTH REGINA BUREAU
SEE FARMERS NOT ASKED, PAGE 4
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The remaining members of the Canadian Sheep Federation will be discussing its fate after Alberta Lamb Producers and the Ontario Sheep Marketing Agency gave notice they are pulling out of the national organization. Ontario will no longer be a member as of Sept. 1 and Alberta leaves Oct. 20, said Alberta Lamb Producers chair Erin Yaremko. The announcements came as a surprise and were disappointing, said federation chair Phil Kolodychuk, who is a lamb producer from Bluesky, Alta. A conference call was scheduled for early this week to discuss whether the organization should carry on or dismantle itself. NATIONAL SHEEP GROUP, PAGE 5
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u|xhHEEJBy00001pzYv.:! JULY 28, 2016 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Box 2500, Stn. Main, Saskatoon, SK. S7K 2C4
Tom Wolfe of Agrimetrix, right, demonstrates the physics of thermal inversions in field spraying at the Ag in Motion farm show near Saskatoon last week. | MICHAEL RAINE PHOTO
WHAT WOULD ALUS COST? | P. 15 | BEEF NUTRIENT GUIDE UPDATED | P. 54
Scoring soil health Farmers are becoming increasingly interested in measuring the health of their soil, and tools are available to help them do it. However, it’s not always cut and dried. | Page 16
The Western Producer is published in Saskatoon by Western Producer Publications, which is owned by GVIC Communications Corp. Publisher: Shaun Jessome Publications Mail Agreement No. 40069240
Grain farmers were surprised to learn last week that roundtable meetings on transportation, led by federal transport minister Marc Garneau, will conclude without substantial input from them. “It was grain that was the reason that this started off a year early,” said Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan president Norm Hall, referring to the Canada Transportation Act review that resulted in the current consultations. “Shouldn’t he be meeting with us?” Problems moving a large 2013 grain crop prompted the thenConservative government to invoke temporary measures to get grain moving and launch the review. The Liberal government recently extended those measures for one more year and embarked on consultations after receiving the review report. Eight roundtables held during the past two months focused on five themes: • safer transportation • trade corridors to global markets • green transportation • passenger services • waterways, coasts and the north Grain movement falls under the trade corridor theme. The first roundtable on that theme included participation from ports, railways and airports. However, the second, held July 21 in Winnipeg, included just two producer organizations: Pulse Canada and the Prairie Oat Growers Association. The Western Grain Elevator Association and G3 Canada also attended. Hall said Transport Canada told Canadian Federation of Agriculture board members at the organization’s summer meeting this was the final roundtable, although online consultations continue until Sept. 16. CFA has been asking for a meeting with Garneau for months with no luck, leaving it with the impression that promises of transparency and openness by the new government were empty.