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Agriculture Roundup for Wednesday November 25, 2020

Nov 25, 2020 | 9:49 AM

MELFORT, Sask. – Canadian Western Agribition will host a sale this week despite cancellation of the 2020 annual show due to the pandemic.

CEO Chris Lane said the Commercial Cattle Exhibitors sale will be held in partnership with Johnstone Auction Mart in Moose Jaw, this Saturday.

“We put the call out to some of our long-time commercial cattle exhibitors to help sell some pens and have an Agribition sale so that’s what we’re doing,” Lane said. “We’ve got nearly 200 head of cattle that are entered and are going to sell on Saturday at Johnstone’s.”

Lane said producers will be able to sell animals under the Agribition spotlight.

He said the sale will be conducted in a safe way and all COVID-19 protocols will be followed.

The Grain Growers of Canada (GGC) are pleased with the level of participation for National Grain Week despite the challenges of transitioning to virtual platforms.

GGC Chair Jeff Nielsen said it is meant to meet the goal of putting more farmers in front of more policy makers, more often.

“Not only were we able to do that this year, despite the challenges of adapting to a virtual event, but we were able to actually expand our reach, including more GGC members in Grain Week events than ever before,” he said.

GGC officials, including six staff members and 16 farmer directors, met with more than 30 parliamentarians last week, including representatives from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Senators and Members of Parliament from all five political parties.

GGC and Crop Life Canada launched a video that was created to educate legislators about the business of a modern grain farm. The film has more than 2,000 views.

Nielsen said Canadian grain farmers are uniquely positioned to help drive Canada’s economic recovery post COVID. In order to do that he said the industry needs government support in the areas of prioritizing and enforcing current free trade agreements, modernizing regulations preventing innovation in agricultural research and partnering with farmers in efforts to address climate change.

alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF