By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup for Thursday February 23, 2023

Feb 23, 2023 | 10:10 AM

MELFORT, Sask. – The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) are asking for an update on the $4 billion water management infrastructure known as the Lake Diefenbaker Irrigation Project.

SARM President Ray Orb said the expansion could more than double the irrigated land in the province, not only opening new farmland to consistent water supplies, but also facilitating industrial and potash mining operations.

“The government has already allocated $45.5 million for preliminary engineering and environmental work on the first phase of the project and has said construction could start in 2023,” Orb said. “At this time, most of the work beyond rehabilitating existing canals is in the conceptual phase, and there are many unanswered questions.”

SARM wants an update on Phase 1 in Division 5. With 90 per cent of the current canal already in place, Orb said RMs will see water flow and processing, and employment opportunities increase.

The project was announced by Saskatchewan government in 2020. Orb said RMs will reap the rewards of irrigation after some very hard years of drought.

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Protein Industries Canada will start accepting Expressions of Interest (EOI) for new technology leadership projects on Mar. 1.

This is the first call for projects under the new $150 million funding provided through the federal government’s Global Innovation Cluster program.

Protein Industries Canada CEO Bill Greuel said EOI’s under this call will be accepted until Apr. 19.

“We are excited to once again be able to start accepting EOI’s for new technology projects,” Greuel said. “Our new five-year runway presents us with the opportunity to co-invest into ambitious projects that will anchor Canada’s position as the partner of choice to secure global food supply chains.”

Greuel said this will help on the journey to create a $25 billion industry by 2035.

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A Ukrainian farmer said Canadian grain storage supplies arrived just in time to save crops from rotting in their field after the Russian invasion blocked the ports used to export those yields.

Oleh His runs a farm in a small town near the border with Poland, far from the front lines of the war, but said the conflict made the last growing season incredibly difficult.

He said the cost of diesel and fertilizers have gone up, and with the Black Sea effectively blocked most of the year farmers had far fewer options to sell their harvest.

His said he knows of some farms that went bankrupt but added he has been able to hold onto his grain and export it to Poland during the winter when it was more profitable to offset extra costs.

Help came in the form of grain bags as part of an aid partnership between Canada, Japan, and the United Nations.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW