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Agriculture Roundup for Tuesday, July 17, 2023

Jul 18, 2023 | 11:14 AM

Mounties north of Edmonton are hoping tips from the public will help investigators find 85 cattle and whoever stole them nearly eight months ago.

Officers were called to a ranch in Athabasca County on Nov. 21, 2022, after 79 calves, four cows and two bulls were stolen.

RCMP say the cattle are described as Black Angus and Simmental and are branded M-4 on the right hip.

Officers have been investigating for months but are hoping people will come forward now to help with the case.

The opposition BC United is calling on the NDP government to declare the current drought a provincial State of Emergency.

Agriculture critic Ian Paton said that would give ranchers and farmers access to both provincial and federal disaster assistance as they grapple with the conditions.

Paton said he’s heard from some farmers who are moving their cattle to auction due to a lack of feed amid the persistent drought.

The province has been urging the public to conserve water, with four of the 34 water basins it monitors now classified at the most severe level of drought.

Migrant farm workers and their supporters in Nova Scotia are calling on the province to allow them access to health care while they’re in Canada.

Community members in Antigonish and Halifax put up posters calling for access to healthcare for Kerian Burnett and all migrant workers in Nova Scotia.

The group said Burnett is a mother of six who works as a strawberry picker in the province, and has received word of a cancer diagnosis she needs treated but has been told she’s not eligible.

Organizers say in Quebec and Ontario, migrant farm workers in the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program have access to public healthcare coverage upon arrival.

alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

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