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Agriculture Roundup for Friday November 25, 2022

Nov 25, 2022 | 9:40 AM

MELFORT, Sask. – Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers (OYF) have arrived in Saskatoon, Sask.

The annual event welcomes industry representatives, alumni, and OYF regional representatives from across the country.

The seven regional winners include Gurpreet Lidder from British Columbia, Ben Campbell of Alberta, Cody Straza and Allison Squires representing Saskatchewan, Richard and Kristy-Layne Carr from Manitoba, David and Jennifer VanDeVelde of Ontario, Guillaume and Etienne Lessard of Quebec, and Morgan and Karissa Smallman from Prince Edward Island.

Participants will tour a number of agricultural operations ranging from crop production to poultry, dairy, and natural sciences.

The regional representatives will make presentations about their operations on Saturday and the national winners will be announced tonight.

OYF recognizes farmers 18-39 who exemplify excellence in their profession.

SaskBarley has announced scholarships to three graduate students who are carrying out research focused on barley.

The recipient of the $6,000 award was Dilini Adihetty, a Ph.D. graduate student and research assistant with the University of Alberta’s Department of Agricultural, Food, and Nutritional Science.

Adihetty’s research is focused on managing the negative effects of spot blotch in western Canadian barley to allow for more effective targeting of the disease in the long term.

The $4,000 awards were given to Michael Taylor, M.Sc. Candidate in Plant Science at the University of Saskatchewan and Jonathan Beutler, Ph.D. student with the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia.

Taylor’s research is focused on the mitigation of lodging in barley through an examination of root system imaging and field data collection; Beutler’s project is helping barley breeders develop net blotch-resistant, pre-breeding germplasm and will ultimately lead to the development of resistant varieties for Canadian growers.

SaskBarley chair Keith Rueve says the scholarship fund was created to encourage and support the development of new researchers working to benefit Saskatchewan’s barley sector.

Canadian Foodgrains Bank, volunteer farmers, and Viterra are celebrating their seventh consecutive year of working together toward ending global hunger.

Just over 180 acres of land were provided at Viterra facilities in Stettler and Trochu in Alberta as well as Balgonie, Raymore and Grenfell in Saskatchewan.

Some of the land plots are traditional growing projects cultivated by a community group, while others are farmed by individual farmers who take on the few extra acres as part of their own.

Once the crops are harvested, the proceeds from the sale of the crop are donated to the Foodgrains Bank and can be used to respond to hunger around the world.

Viterra CEO Kyle Jeworski said the company takes great pride in teaming up with the Foodgrains Bank.

alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

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