CFFO Blog's Blog – June 2011 Archive (4)

Canadian Cattle Young Leaders Travel to Kamloops Area for Annual Spring Forum

Canadian Cattle Young Leaders (CYL) mentees from across Canada gathered May 28–30 for the annual Spring Forum. For the first time, the three-day event was held in Kamloops, BC and the surrounding area. The 15 young leaders participated in a range of industry tours and training designed to enhance their Canadian beef industry knowledge and connections, specifically in the British Columbia region. The first day kicked off with industry experts sharing their insights on timely industry topics. The young leaders heard from Blake Lechkobit and Tammy Cox from Foundation Partner MNP about financial literacy and business planning. From our Platinum partner Cargill, Kristine Tapley spoke about sustainability in the beef industry and Cargill’s connection with the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB). To round out these sessions, the CYLs also had the opportunity to voice their perspective on industry questions brought forward by Platinum Partner McDonald’s Canada. After the speaker

GIFS at USask to welcome Dr. Karen Churchill as new Chief Scientific Officer

The Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) has named Dr. Karen Churchill (PhD) as its new Chief Scientific Officer. Churchill, an accomplished leader in Canada’s agriculture and food sector, comes to GIFS from Ag-West Bio, where she has served as President and CEO since 2019. Over the next few months, Karen will work with Ag-West Bio on a transition plan before joining GIFS full time. “Saskatchewan is home to a dynamic agriculture and food innovation ecosystem, which I see every day at Ag-West Bio. It’s been an honour to lead this organization and I continue to draw great inspiration and motivation from our team and its member organizations, including the Global Institute for Food Security,” said Churchill. “I want to thank the Board and everyone at Ag-West Bio for their work and dedication and am committed to working with our team to ensure a smooth transition. I am leaving Ag-West Bio with mixed emotions, but I know there’ll be opportu

New smartphone-based AI tool in development will strengthen grain quality data for farmers, buyers and processors

Today, Protein Industries Canada announced a partnership with Grain Discovery, Inarix and Sevita International to bring artificial intelligence (AI) into the palms of farmers’ hands and further strengthen Canada’s trusted grain quality system. The project will develop a smartphone-based grain quality assurance tool that builds on Canada’s existing dependable grading framework by bringing in digital capacity, supporting informed crop management decisions and expanding access to real-time quality data. By leveraging AI, specifically computer vision and machine learning algorithms, the project partners will provide options to complement grain testing methods with a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. Once developed, the platform will allow users to take a photo of a soybean sample using a standard smartphone and receive an AI-generated quality assessment in under 20 seconds. By delivering consistent, scalable and real-time results, the tool will help improve information flow throughou

Crop Report for the Period June 3 to June 9, 2025

Almost all Saskatchewan producers have completed their seeding operations with 100 per cent of the 2025 crop seeded. Rain was welcome in many parts of the province this week. However, in areas that did not receive as much rain, topsoil moisture is continuing to decline.  Rain fell in many areas of the province over the last week with the southeast and east-central regions receiving the highest amounts. The Calder area reported the highest rainfall amount at 36 millimeters (mm) followed by the Stockholm area at 35 mm and the Rocanville area at 34 mm. Regions that did not receive significant amounts of precipitation have noted that rainfall is needed soon to avoid serious crop damage.  With sporadic rain across the province, moisture conditions overall remained at similar levels as last week. However, some areas continued to see a decline in topsoil moisture. Cropland topsoil moisture is rated as two per cent surplus, 44 per cent adequate, 42 per cent short and 12 per cent very short.

Ottawa Police looking for farm equipment accident witnesses

Two teens in Ottawa were involved in an accident with farm equipment