Forage and Livestock eNews
Updates and information from across
the industry
January
16, 2009 - Vol 1, Issue
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Dear Leanne |
Welcome to the
Saskatchewan Forage Council's first
e-newsletter! This regularly distributed
publication will
provide news and information from across
the forage industry. If you produce, utilize or
otherwise depend on forages, you will find
something of interest in this newsletter. We will
also be including information on upcoming events
and programs related to the forage and livestock
industry in Saskatchewan. Feel free
to share this publication with anyone you think may be
interested, or encourage them to join our mailing
list. Please contact us if you have comments or
questions about our new e-newsletter. Also, let us
know if you have ideas for upcoming issues.
We welcome your
input!
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Forage
Industry Stakeholder Forum a Success |
The organizing committee would like to extend a special
thanks to those who attended the Forage Industry Stakeholder
Forum on November 20-21, 2008 in Saskatoon. Without your
participation, this project will not be successful. The
project committee was very pleased with the wide cross section
of stakeholders who were able to attend. This made for
interesting discussions and a unique point of view to emerge
from this forum. For those who were unable to attend,
this article presents a summary of events and what
the project committee is planning in moving forward with this
important industry analysis.
The remainder of the forum saw attendees participating in
the creation of value chain maps and taking part in open
discussions about the nature and challenges of the forage
industry today. These maps looked both at the direct
value chains (i.e. economic values) and indirect values (i.e.
ecological goods and services) created by
forages. The final map will be used as a basis for
conducting the industry analysis portion of the
project.
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Saskatchewan Advisory Council on Forage Crops
submitted by Michel Tremblay - Saskatchewan
Ministry of Agriculture
and Secretary for SACFC |
The Saskatchewan Advisory
Council on Forage Crops (SACFC) is a long standing committee
made up of representatives from government, industry, producer
groups, and researchers. The mandate of this council is
to provide a mechanism for the province's forage industry to
communicate with and advise various levels of government on
issues of importance to the forage industry.
Working independently with no financial support,
the SACFC is made up of a series of subcommittees representing
all facets of the forage industry. The subcommittee
structure provides for systematic and regular communications
and issue identification within and among forage industry
sectors. The SACFC is certified by the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency to recommend for registration new forage
cultivars. The SACFC has advised governments on issues
such as seed quality standards, research program priorities,
structure of land conversion programs, and minor use
registration of pesticides. The SACFC meets annually in
November.
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National Sustainable Grazing Mentorship
Program |
The SFC is
pleased to offer the Sustainable Grazing Mentorship
Program (SGMP) again this year in Saskatchewan as
an opportunity for producers to receive individual input
and suggestions from a producer peer on how to improve their
profits, efficiency, forage productivity as well as land and
water resources through improved grazing management.
Saskatchewan producer Les Johnston was mentored as part
of the program last year. He felt that although he has
experience in grazing and livestock management practices "it's
helpful to have another set of eyes look at your operation,
especially if you are considering investing a significant
amount of dollars on improvements. We were looking at
doing some cross fencing and water development and found it
beneficial to have a mentor evaluate our project ideas.
We were also able to learn about some programs that would help
us recover a portion of the cost of these developments which
will have an obvious benefit on our bottom line".
How does the program work? A mentor will visit
your farm/ranch to provide peer support and will be available
for approximately 16 hours of mentoring. Your investment as a
producer is only $100. Program funding ends March 31,
2009, so contact the Saskatchewan Forage Council now to
find out how to get involved at (306) 966-2148 or thompsonleanne@sasktel.net.
Funds for this program are provided by Agriculture
and Agri-Food Canada's Greencover Canada Program available
through the Canadian Cattlemen's Association.
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Leanne Thompson - Editor Forage and
Livestock eNews
Forage and Livestock eNews is
published by the Saskatchewan Forage Council (SFC).
Opinions
and information are provided by the authors and
publication does not imply endorsement by the
SFC. |
The
Saskatchewan Forage Council recognizes the support of
our Annual Sponsors:
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Financial support for this project has
been provided by:
the Agriculture Council of Saskatchewan through the
Advancing Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food
Saskatchewan (ACAAFS) program. Funding for the
ACAAFS program is provided by Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada
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