A lot of the pre-harvest safety checks are the same tasks you should take to prevent spoilage, says farm safety expert Robert Gobeil.

Be safe and profitable when storing grain

Best practices for safety and preventing spoilage in bins frequently cross over, says safety expert

Glacier FarmMedia – The pre-harvest season is a good time to think about best practices around grain bin safety. Sounds like one more set of things to do on top of about a million others, right? Not necessarily, said a farm safety specialist. Those already taking action to minimize grain spoilage are also eliminating safety

Federal Ag Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau (r) visits the Ag in Motion outdoor farm show near Langham, Sask. on July 20, 2022. (Greg Berg photo)

Ag ministers lock in next policy funding framework

AgriStability compensation rate to rise; new EGS program planned; some agmins decry feds' approach on fertilizer emission cuts

The new federal-provincial ag policy funding framework due to take effect next April 1 will include a new ecological goods and services plan and a sweetened compensation rate for AgriStability. Following meetings this week in Saskatoon, federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and her provincial and territorial counterparts on Friday mapped out the bones of their


Following safe practices while haying ditches can prevent damage and injuries.

Be aware of ditch haying dangers

Washouts, culverts and soft spots can create risky situations

Farmers and ranchers should exercise caution when haying in ditches. Among the risks this year is excess water, says Angie Johnson, North Dakota State University Extension farm and ranch safety coordinator. “Precipitation has greatly improved the 2022 hay crop, but in some areas excessive moisture has been a challenge,” Johnson said. “The increase in surface

Staying cool and safe in the summer heat

Staying cool and safe in the summer heat

As the heart of summer begins, the days will get hotter and high temperatures may cause problems for people working outdoors or indoors without air conditioning. Hot air, high humidity, sunshine and hot surfaces can raise body temperatures to dangerous levels. Add physical activity and the results can be life-threatening. Workers and employers need to


Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest near Humaita, Amazonas State, Brazil on Aug. 14, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino)

Market value alone is selling nature short, governments told

Economic valuations needed but 'not sufficient,' co-chair says

Reuters — What is the value of a river? Is it for the nutritional content of the fish it sustains? The economic benefit of the local livelihoods it supports? Or does the river have its own value which humans cannot measure? Such questions may seem removed from the issues the world faces, from deepening climate

Signage outside an IBEW office in Winnipeg. (File photo by Dave Bedard)

CN signals staff to return to work Wednesday

IBEW, railway to go to binding arbitration

Signals and communications workers at Canadian National Railway (CN) are set to end their 17-day strike and return to work Wednesday morning. CN, in a statement Monday, said the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) System Council 11, which represents about 750 of the company’s employees across the country, had agreed to take its labour


Certain conditions can take a storm to the next level. photo: Xander/istock/getty images

Back to our look at severe summer weather

What makes a garden-variety thunderstorm an event to truly remember?

In the last issue we discussed humidity and dew point, and no, I did not realize at the time we were going to see some ridiculously high dew points during the short-lived heat wave that hit us on June 19. If you recall the article, life-threatening dew points have begun to occur in some subtropical

The grain entrapment demo unit that the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association takes to farm events is an eye-opener for some producers.

Reducing grain-handling and storage hazards starts with bin preparation, safety plan

Practical strategies can make for a safer harvest season

Glacier FarmMedia – Handling and storing grain are dangerous tasks that expose farmers to numerous hazards. Power takeoff (PTO) entanglements and suffocation from grain engulfment or entrapment are two of the most common incidents involving grain. Keeping stored grain in good condition and following recommended safety measures when working with grain can prevent incidents. To


(Lightguard/iStock/Getty Images)

Saskatchewan shores up disaster program for bigger farms

Program extends PDAP aid to higher-revenue farm businesses

Saskatchewan farmers whose operations took damage from storms in April, but whose gross revenues overtopped the maximum for disaster assistance, will now be able to get in on that program. The province on June 16 announced “supplemental relief” via the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program to help farmers who didn’t qualify under PDAP’s usual eligibility rules.

A mobile biomass densification system, developed at PAMI in Portage la Prairie and shown here in a 2012 video, was used to process biomass such as straw into solid blocks, for ease of transport or for use in biomass burners. (BioScience Association Manitoba video screengrab via YouTube)

PAMI to close Portage la Prairie location

Revenue challenges in recent years blamed for Manitoba site's closure

The product development, testing and design firm Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI), will be closing its Portage la Prairie, Man. location at the end of July. Citing revenue challenges in recent years as the reason for downsizing, the institute informed staff and clients of the closure of its River Road facility in Portage, prior to