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Agriculture Roundup for Tuesday November 24, 2020

Nov 24, 2020 | 11:12 AM

WESTERN CANADA – Prairie Cereals Summit (PCS) in Banff, Alta. has been cancelled and the Alberta Barley annual meeting will be held online.

The Alberta Wheat and Barley Commissions made the decision based on Alberta’s health and safety protocols to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Alberta Wheat chair Todd Hames said farmers looked forward to the event.

“PCS has grown to be known as a great event for networking with fellow farmers and industry,” Hames said in a news release. “While it’s unfortunate that we cannot gather and learn from expert speakers, network, and celebrate a successful harvest, we look forward to a future PCS event when it is safe to gather.”

Alberta Barley will be releasing registration information for the online meeting, and director and delegate session which will be held on Dec. 9.

Anyone registered for the conference will receive a full refund.

Saskatchewan feeder cattle markets were mostly higher last week.

Canfax reported roughly 42,500 head of cattle were sold in Saskatchewan last week.

The biggest price increases were for lighter weight animals. Steers in the 600 to 700-pound category increased $4.85, 700 to 800-pound steers were $1.58 higher while 900 pound and over steers rose $5.13.

Feeder heifer prices were also higher last week with the exception of the 800 to 900-pound weight class.

For the first time in several weeks, prices for live, non-fed cattle in Alberta were higher.

The federal government has launched the first two streams of its Food Waste Reduction Challenge, part of the Food Policy for Canada.

Up to $10.8 million will be awarded to innovators who come up with a way of doing business that can prevent or divert food waste at any point from farm-to-plate.

According to estimates, more than half of Canada’s food supply is wasted annually and $49.5 billion of that wasted food is avoidable.

alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF