Hunters and wildlife, like bears, add to the challenges of locating feral wild boar. Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation, Alberta pork and Alberta Invasive Species Council are working together to locate and eliminate wild boar from Alberta's landscape,  Charlotte Shipp is the industry programs manager with Alberta Pork, and she will talk about their joint efforts.   Western Canada's largest outdoor show is celebrating its 10th anniversary at AG in motion Prairie farmers have a chance to see what's new in agriculture and connect with others in the industry. AIM has over 100 acres of trade show exhibits, company share products and new technology at the three-day event and there are live infield demonstrations, ride and drives and a showcase of over 550 exhibitors Show manager Rob O'Connor says the show in 2023 reached a record attendance of over 31,000 guests and they anticipate a similar crowd in 2024.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cereals Canada recently released its annual report and announced the national cereal grain value chain organization want a new facility that would serve as the hub for Canada’s grain industry, promoting the use of Canadian crops around the world.That new $100 million facility would be built in downtown Winnipeg and would be branded as the Global Agriculture Technology Exchange (GATE.) Cereals Canada CEO Dean Dias will talk about the report and share why this new building is needed.Farmers and agronomists scout for signs of sclerotinia in canola fields following a wetter than normal spring and early summer. The challenge is determining the economic threshold for spray treatments. The Canola Council of Canada has developed a new online tool to assist with the decision. It is available at CanolaCalculator.ca,Chris Manchur with the council says the sclerotinia risk assessment tool offers both a recommendation about whether or not to spray a canola crop based on information provided by the user and rating sclerotinia severity at maturity.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Canadian agriculture needs to focus on adapting to climate change in a manner that will help sustain food security in the world. A policy paper released by Agri-Food Economic Systems, reviewed the effects of climate change on agriculture. Research Lead Dr. Al Mussell says data from Environment and Climate Change Canada indicates Canada is getting warmer and wetter, however, rather than focusing on adapting to those changing conditions, policy makers have prioritized mitigating the effects of climate change.Demand for beef is expected to stay high even though the cattle herd has declined in Canada and the United States and beef prices are relatively high. Anne Wasko is the president of Cattle Trends. She says the U.S. beef cow herd has declined 2.5 per cent to 28.2 million head so far this year.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A series of surveys conducted by the Western College of Veterinary Medicine suggests a need to step up the recruitment of veterinary students. In response to a shortage of swine veterinarians, surveys asked how long vets had been in practice, their educational background, what attracted them to the profession and how long they plan to remain active.Dr. John Harding, a professor of swine medicine with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, says the five surveys focused on different topics including the swine profession and its needs, swine medicine education, swine medicine curricula, swine veterinarian clinical competency and swine continuing education and advanced certification.The president of the Wheat Grower says its time for the federal government to re-think its climate change policies. In his Wheat Beat June newsletter to Wheat Growers, Gunter Jochum shared his frustrations with government's emphasis on climate change- which he sees as a misplaced priority.Jochum aslo questioned if farm groups have been buying into the government's climate action programs and too anxious to accept government subsidies for things like cover crop programs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan, through its canadianfoodfocus.org web site, has released the first of a series of videos to help non-farming consumers relate to farmers and life on the farm.Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan Executive Director Clinton Monchuk says Canadian Food Focus was viewed as an opportunity to get out of our agriculture bubble. Shaping sustainability standards and what it means to the agriculture sector. This was the focus of a presentation at the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association annual meeting by Dr. Tammy Nemeth, is a U.K.-based Energy Security Analyst.Nemeth, originally from Saskatchewan, says the requirements the International Sustainability Standards Board would impose on agriculture would be onerous and detrimental to the industry.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Saskatchewan Pulse Growers (SPG) launches a new strategic plan with a new focus on priorities with the greatest impact to pulse growers in Saskatchewan, looking ahead to 2030. SPG Executive Director Carl Potts explains the plan is built on direction from its nine-member Board of Directors-made up of farmers. The new plan highlights four key focus areas. The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities is urging rural residents to run for municipal council and truely make a difference in their communities.SARM President Ray Orb says many RMs have vacancies on councils, and this presents an opportunity for individuals to get involved with the issues that directly affect daily life for the people in rural Saskatchewan and SARM has created a new video to discuss some common misconceptions around rural representation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The introduction of new technology has helped revolutionize the application of livestock manure fertilizer to cropland. This is an important topic as we examine the influence of modern agriculture on the environment and calls for the creation of a provincially appointed task group to develop solutions to the algae problem in Lake Winnipeg. Manitoba Pork General Manager Cam Dahl says the modernization of agriculture is making the application of manure more precise. A mid-sized chicken farm in Saskatchewan needs to heat the barns to above 30 degrees the entire year-round. In 2023, this chicken farmer paid $23,000 in natural gas heating bills. Of that bill, about a third, or $7,500 is just carbon tax and GST on the carbon tax. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation released Leger polling showing 70 per cent of Canadians support a carbon tax exemption on propane and natural gas for farmers. CTF Prairie Director Gage Haubrich said this shows Canadians know that keeping costs down for farmers helps lower costs at the grocery store for all of us.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The world is closely watching the situation in the United States surrounding  Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Avian Influenza that has appeared in US dairy herds. HPAI was detected in milk and in dairy cattle in Texas and Kansas, while the virus has been confirmed in dairy herds in other states, in baby goats and one dairy farm worker has tested positive for the virus.Veterinary pathologist  Dr. Susan Detmer with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine suggests biosecurity procedures in place on Canadian swine farms to protect against the introduction of foreign animal disease will help protect against other infections, including HPAI.Detmer will talk about how the infection virus has been traveling through wild birds returning to North America. A new opportunity this summer for anyone wanting to learn more about Saskatchewan agriculture and food. Saskatchewan will hold its first Open Farm Days August 10 and 11 which will bring people from across province together through educational and agricultural-based initiatives all designed to create an opportunity to learn about where food comes from. Sask Open Farm Days cooordinator Ashley Stone says many other provinces have enjoyed success hosting this event and they are hoping to build on that success.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The subject of Family Farm succession is complex and emotional. That's why we felt it was topic that was worthy of being the focus of the entire podcast this week. While discussions surrounding succession can be difficult there are strategies available to Canadian farm business families to confidently navigate the paths of transition decision making. My guest is Patti Durand, a certified Family Enterprise Advisor, with Brightrack Consulting.Over the past six years she's guided 350 farm families through transition and succession conversations.As a speaker and workshop leader, Patti provides relatable, thoughtful ideas to help business families move ahead, together and with certainty. I'll talk to Patti about nine habits worth adjusting and shifting to in the conversation of the future of the family farm.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Farm Credit Canada report shows farmland rental rates are keeping pace with farmland values. FCC has been comparing rental rates to the price of farmland and the data shows the national rent-to-price ratio in 2023 was 2.52 per cent, reflecting a decline from the previous year. FCC Senior Economist Justin Shepherd says in 2023 we saw some fairly strong farmland value growth across the prairies, especially in Saskatchewan as well as Manitoba, while Alberta had a little bit slower growth, but it was still positive. Seeding is underway in Manitoba.  While other parts of the prairies started the season on the dry side, its a different story in Manitoba. Rain has slowed spring seeding but will give this year's crops a good start. Dennis Lange is a pulse and soybean specialist with Manitoba Agriculture and the editor of the provincial crop report. He'll tell us about seeding progress and where that number compares with previous year.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.