Alberta Beef Producers 2021 Environmental Stewardship Award recipients Scott and Elan Lees with Soderglen South Ranch. (Submitted photo/Alberta Beef Producers)

By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup

Agriculture Roundup for Friday April 30, 2021

Apr 30, 2021 | 9:52 AM

MELFORT, Sask. — Scott and Elan Lees of Soderglen South are the recipients of the Alberta Beef Producers (ABP) 2021 Environmental Stewardship Award.

Soderglen South is comprised of two ranches at Fort Macleod and Cardston, with roughly 15,000 acres of native grasslands in the Foothills Fescue natural subregion.

Fort McLeod acts as the summer ranch for cattle that move between the south locations, while the Cardston ranch is the base for wintering and calving and maintains a cowherd of 1,500 mother cows.

Each year, ABP recognizes leaders in the cattle industry for demonstrating sound environmental stewardship practices that contribute to the land while improving productivity and profitability.

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Legislation designed to protect landowners from trespassers will help livestock producers guard their animals from the introduction of disease.

Manitoba Pork general manager Cam Dahl said the Animal Diseases Amendment, Petty Trespass Amendment and Occupiers Liability Act will increase the protection of landowners from trespassers.

He said the legislation will help ensure trespassers who break a farm’s biosecurity will be penalized.

“After over a year of COVID-19 and protecting human biosecurity, the same is true for pork and for chickens and turkeys and dairy cattle in Manitoba. Biosecurity is critically important to preserving the health of our animals,” Dahl said. “The threat from foreign animal disease is real.”

Dahl uses African Swine Fever (ASF) as an example. He said ASF resulted in well over two million hogs dying in China. He said they want to prevent that from happening here.

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Canada’s grain farmers are calling for a modernized Canada Grain Act that reduces regulatory red tape and ensures high-quality grain for domestic and export markets.

Grain Growers of Canada (GGC) submitted its comments to the federal government regarding the review of the Canada Grain Act.

GGC chair Andre Harpe said it contained recommendations that are responsive to the evolving needs of the agricultural sector.

“As the national voice for grain farmers, we recognize this is a unique opportunity to define the ‘gold standard’ for grain quality in Canada,” Harpe said. “A key aspect of this review is making sure that we have a Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) that works for all of us.”

The last overhaul of the act was 35 years ago. GGC said with the elimination of the single desk for wheat and barley, the growth of canola and the oil-processing sector, and the size and sophistication of today’s farms, the Canada Grain Act has not remained relevant.

“Our submission has made it clear that an evolved CGC must rely on sustainable funding, reduce red tape, and be defined by transparency and accountability,” Harpe said. “Farmers are ready to deliver on the high-quality grain that our customers expect, we just need a regulatory system that we can count on.”

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW