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By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup

Agriculture Roundup for Monday, December 12, 2022

Dec 12, 2022 | 9:59 AM

MELFORT, Sask. – The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan wants a proposed federal bill to protect the rights of producers to maintain and service their equipment and give options for third-party services.

The group was asked to testify in a meeting of the standing committee on industry and technology in relation to C-244. The bill would allow everybody to have access to manufacturer tools and procedures on repairing software and parts.

The North American Equipment Dealers Association said they are not against the farmers’ right to repair, but President John Schmeiser said the bill was initially introduced for electronics and household appliances.

He said if people have access to the software for tractors, they could increase the speed to 70 km/h, even though the brakes aren’t designed to handle that.

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British Columbia has a new agriculture minister.

Premier David Eby selected Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis to serve in the agriculture portfolio. Alexis was the mayor of Mission, B.C.

She replaces Lana Popham who had served as B.C.’s agriculture minister since 2017 and as the NDP’s agriculture critic for eight years before that.

Popham is the new minister of tourism, arts, culture and sport.

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A new provincial pilot project is aimed at helping a long-term care facility in Nova Scotia boost its use of locally grown and produced food products.

Agriculture Minister Greg Morrow said the Northwood residence in Halifax is getting up to $25,000 from a $250,000 program that will eventually spread to other nursing homes as well as public schools and hospitals.

Morrow said it’s hoped the push to put more local fruit, vegetables, fish, and meat into larger institutions across the province will help to meet the government’s target of having 20 per cent of all consumer food purchases be local products by 2030.

Stephanie Hefford, Northwood’s manager of food production, said the 385-resident facility currently gets about 18 per cent of its food through local sources.

Hefford said the provincial incentive will help the facility with its costs and it’s hoped the program will boost Northwood’s use of local food by another five per cent.

In particular, she said the facility is looking to increase its use of local protein foods such as meat, fish, and dairy products.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW