Featured - Kevin Hursh

International factors are pushing up the price of nitrogen fertilizer. In the middle of summer, urea fertilizer, 46-0-0 could be purchased in the $650 to $700 a tonne range.

Funding for Saskatchewan Crop Insurance was announced yesterday, but no program enhancements were included. Producers will soon receive information on their coverage levels and premiums for all the various crops.

Both major railways are struggling to move grain in a timely fashion. According to the Ag Transport Coalition, CPKC was the first to see badly lagging performance, but CN has now joined the downward swing.

Insecticides with the trade names Matador, Silencer and Labamba are again approved for most uses in the growing season ahead. The active ingredient is lambda-cyhalothrin.

Saskatchewan Agriculture’s 2025 Crop Planning Guide is now available on-line. Printed versions will be available at the Crop Production Show next week in Saskatoon and also at regional offices.

Crop prices varied dramatically throughout 2024. The agriculture portion of the Saskatchewan government website has graphs of farm gate grain prices over time.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has dropped its canola price forecast for the current crop year. This has ramifications for what the canola price will be for the crop insurance program.

Statistics Canada has dramatically lowered its canola production estimate for 2024 .

The Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture has developed new survey maps for various crop pests including pea leaf weevil, wheat stem sawfly, grasshoppers and cabbage seedpod weevils.

Member companies of the Canadian Crop Hail Insurance Association paid out $230 million to Western Canadian grain farmers on nearly 11,000 hail claims this year.