By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup for Monday December 20, 2021

Dec 20, 2021 | 9:53 AM

MELFORT, Sask. – An older cow has tested positive for atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Alberta.

Agriculture Minister Nate Horner said it’s Alberta’s first case in almost six years.

Horner said atypical BSE presents no risk to human health and is not transmissible.

He said the case is not expected to affect the market and quick detection demonstrates inspectors and producers are dedicated to keeping the disease out of Canada’s cattle herd.

This type of BSE happens at a rate of about one in one million cattle and has been reported six times in the United States and in other countries.

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The World Organization for Animal Health said atypical BSE differs from the classical form of BSE, which happens when cattle eat prion contaminated feed.

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Farmers Edge has created a subsidiary company that will provide insurance products, risk transfer solutions, and group benefits.

DigiAg Risk Management will provide farmers across Canada and the United States with access to proprietary, field-centric datasets coming directly from broad-acre farms, including satellite imagery, on-farm weather events, predictive crop models, and acreage reports.

These site-specific datasets create new insurance solutions and risk transfer opportunities for farmers that have been previously unavailable in the marketplace.

Farmers Edge CEO Wade Barnes said DigiAg will work alongside industry-leading vendors and partners, including Acturis and Wawanesa Life.

“With the launch of DigiAg Risk Management, we’re able to bring new solutions for farmers to mitigate risk across their operation, protect their employees, and build a legacy for future generations to continue farming,” Barnes said in a news release. “At the same time, we can support the advancement of the insurance industry, help insurers establish deeper connectivity with farms, and enable the creation of new parametric insurance models and risk transfer solutions.”

The new products and insurance will be available for the 2022 and 2023 growing seasons, including Canola Heat Blast Yield Protection and a group benefits plan designed for farm families and their employees.

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The Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario (CFFO) hosted a matching donation campaign for members, altogether raising just over $48,000 for Canadian Foodgrains Bank.

The donation comes as part of a partnership launched this year between CFFO and Foodgrains Bank. CFFO invited members to participate in a month-long matching donation campaign up to $10,000. CFFO members exceeded expectations for the Giving Tuesday Campaign by donating over $33,000.

CFFO board president Ed Scharringa said he was overwhelmed by the generosity of its members and decided to increase its original matching commitment by an additional $5,000, bringing the campaign total to $48,000.

“The generosity of our members is truly admirable,” Scharringa said. “The board of directors felt that such generosity should be acknowledged, so we were pleased to increase our original matching goal.”

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW