By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup for Wednesday June 14, 2023

Jun 14, 2023 | 2:10 PM

Alberta has a new agriculture minister.

Premier Danielle Smith named her new cabinet recently which includes Highwood MLA RJ Sigurdson who was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation.

Sigurdson, grew up working on a 40-acre family farm north of Cochrane and worked on nearby farms during high school.

Prior to being elected to the Legislature in 2019, he worked with Avalanche Air Systems as a senior project and general manager and shareholder. He also has extensive experience as a red seal sheet metal worker.

Sigurdson replaced Nate Horner, who was named Minister of Finance and President of the Treasury Board.

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A new report said Canada’s agricultural land is under pressure to produce more food as demand grows domestically and internationally, while the industry grapples with limited resources and environmental constraints.

The report by the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute released Thursday looked at the pressures on Canada’s agricultural land to produce more food while also mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change.

The institute’s managing director Tyler McCann said Canada needs to be thoughtful about how it uses the agricultural land it has.

McCann said the wildfires are a vivid reminder of the pressure that extreme weather and the changing climate are putting on the agricultural sector.

The report said while technology and agricultural practices can intensify the use of cropland, producing more food on the same amount of land, the sector also needs to consider its environmental impact.

However, it said some of the practices used to reduce emissions and sequester carbon in agriculture can also improve production output on existing farmland, such as precision agriculture and no-till practices.

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Shares in Saputo Inc. fell about 11 per cent as the company’s chief executive cautioned negative consumer sentiment could dampen the outlook for the start of its 2024 fiscal year.

President and CEO Lino A. Saputo said he feels confident about delivering on the company’s promises in the year ahead, but that it could face rough waters early on.

He said despite major dairy-producing countries not seeing an overcapacity of volume, consumer sentiment has turned somewhat negative to start the fiscal year.

Saputo credited pricing initiatives, strong international markets and favourable commodity prices for what he called a solid fourth quarter in 2023 by the company. Its net earnings for the fourth quarter amounted to $159 million, up from $37 million a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter ended Mar. 31 totalled $4.5 billion, up from $4.0 billion in the same quarter last year.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW