As of Tuesday evening 89 wildfires are active in Alberta, with 25 out of control, according to the provincial government, forcing about 20,000 people out of their homes.

A cold front bringing gusty northwest wind, but little rain, was likely on Tuesday, according to Environment Canada’s weather department.

The change in wind direction can pose a problem for firefighters as the path of the fires changes suddenly, said Christie Tucker, spokesperson for the Alberta Wildfire agency.

Evacuation orders and alerts have also been sounded in neighbouring British Columbia, where as of Tuesday evening 61 wildfires are active, and Saskatchewan, where 28 wildfires are active with five ranked as “not contained.”

“The arrival of sustained winds from the north has resulted in aggressive fire behaviour on all wildfires within the north Peace Region,” the B.C. Wildfire Service said late Monday.

Saskatchewan on Tuesday reported it has had more than double the amount of wildfires usually seen at this time of year. Evacuation orders were recently issued at communities including Buffalo Narrows and Dillon, about 250 km north of Meadow Lake.

With fire risk rated high to extreme across much of the province, Saskatchewan on Tuesday also imposed a fire ban for Crown lands and provincial parks north of the Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16) and for the Northern Saskatchewan Administration District.

The Canadian military and firefighters from across Canada and the U.S. are helping fight the blazes in Alberta.

“We will build better,” Judy Levesque, who lost her house at Drayton Valley, said while fighting back tears. “We planned to renovate so now we get to do it quicker.”

“That’s the attitude we have to have because it’s too sad the other way.”

Drayton Valley, a town of almost 7,000 people about 100 km southwest of Edmonton, was under evacuation order up until Tuesday afternoon. Twenty-three full or partial evacuation orders remain in effect for various towns, municipalities, First Nation communities and Metis settlements in northern and western Alberta.

At one point Alberta’s fires forced oil and gas producers to shut in at least 319,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, or 3.7 per cent of national production.

On Tuesday morning, Calgary-based Crescent Point Energy said it was shutting in its Kaybob Duvernay production, impacting 45,000 boepd, as a precautionary measure due to changing wildfire conditions. Benchmark Canadian heavy crude prices have risen to their highest levels in months on concerns about the wildfires.

Farther west in B.C., the hot weather is causing rapid snow melt that has increased river flow and prompted authorities to issue a flood warning for part of the Skeena region.

— Reporting for Reuters by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa, Anna Mehler Paperny in Toronto and Rod Nickel in Winnipeg. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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The provincial government announced Wednesday it has frozen the rates charged to producers who lease Crown grazing land in 2023 at their 2022 level. The freeze will apply to all grazing leases across the province, affecting about six million acres of Crown land in total.

Furthermore, producers who have to reduce their stocking rates on Crown land due to “ongoing dry conditions” will be eligible for a rent cut of up to 50 per cent.

Crown grazing rates in Saskatchewan are set each year using a formula based on fall cattle prices and the long-term stocking rate of each parcel. The rent cuts would apply where a lessee or pasture association must reduce the number of animals grazing on a Crown lease by 20 per cent or more, compared to the parcel’s approved long-term carrying capacity.

The 2023 rate cut would match the reduction in carrying capacity, ranging from a 20 per cent rate reduction up to the maximum 50 per cent.

“Saskatchewan’s livestock sector is facing increasing costs of production in addition to successive years of low precipitation in many areas of the province,” provincial Agriculture Minister David Marit said in a release.

The rate freeze and cuts, he said, “will assist producers through the current challenges while supporting the continued stewardship and productivity of the land.”

Shellbrook cattle producer Arnold Balicki, chair of the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association, on Wednesday hailed the province’s announcement as “something many of our ranchers have been calling for.”

Neighbouring Manitoba last fall announced rent reductions for perennial forage growers leasing Crown land in 2023 and the following two years, citing “extreme weather conditions” ranging from excess moisture in 2022 to severe drought the previous two years. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Provincial Ag Minister Derek Johnson on Wednesday announced the forage lease rent on agricultural Crown land will be reduced by 50 per cent in 2023, 33 per cent in 2024 and 15 per cent in 2025.

These rent reductions will be automatically applied starting with next year’s bills, the province said, so forage leaseholders won’t need to apply for the cut.

“Stakeholders have told us that rental rates on forage lands are challenging with the hardships they are experiencing following the past two years of extreme weather conditions,” Johnson said in a release.

“We are responding to their concerns by implementing this rent reduction program over the next three years, which will provide ranchers with up to $4 million in relief.”

Said “extreme weather conditions” have ranged from severe drought the past two years to excess moisture this year, which have “significantly affected the productivity and forage capacity of agricultural Crown lands,” the province said.”

The rent cut will be in place as the productivity of the land recovers and as “further improvements” to the province’s agricultural Crown lands program are put in place, Johnson said.

The provincial ag department said it’s “exploring other policy, program, regulation and service improvements to enhance the productivity and sustainability of agricultural Crown forage lands including mechanisms for leaseholders to invest in productivity and adjustments to the terms and conditions of leases.”

Other changes made in the past several years as a result of the province’s ongoing review of the Crown land program included the move to an online auction system; a “market-based” formula for calculating rental rates; and the eliminations of lifetime leases and unit transfers.

The program review now includes an online public survey that will be available until late October. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Provincial Finance Minister Donna Harpauer on Wednesday tabled the province’s 2020-21 spending estimates with the “unusual step” of not including revenue forecasts, citing the current COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Estimated spending on the agriculture file includes an appropriation of $366.2 million and capital asset amortization of $2.67 million, for total estimated expense of $368.9 million, down from an estimated $391.3 million for the 2019-20 budget year.

The most significant estimated spending markdown for 2020-21 is on AgriStability, the federal/provincial farm income stabilization program, to $19.98 million, down from $32.9 million in 2019-20.

Provincial spending on crop insurance program premiums is also estimated to fall by $15.9 million in 2020-21, to $139.07 million.

Ag spending to be eliminated in 2020-21 includes the province’s Crown land sale incentive program, which had been earmarked for an estimated $1.55 million in 2019-20.

Increased spending is projected for “regional services” such as ag extension work, at just over $37 million, up $4.8 million from 2019-20.

“The key investments in this spending plan for the upcoming year provide stability and include significant spending lifts in many areas, including health, and significant economic stimulus through capital spending,” Harpauer wrote in a message attached to Wednesday’s estimates.

“And if we didn’t proceed with tabling the estimates, we wouldn’t be able to move ahead with any of these new spending initiatives or stimulus as we start the new fiscal year. So we need to move forward with the estimates now.”

Harpauer added that “more may have to be done to address both the health and economic impacts of COVID-19” in Saskatchewan, but the “full impact” of planned federal measures is still uncertain.

The province, she said, may have to make “adjustments to address the economic fallout” from the pandemic, adding:”we fully recognize that this may mean a deficit.”

That said, she added that Saskatchewan has $1.3 billion in cash reserves and has also “shifted reliance on resource revenues” such as from oil and potash, to an expected 12 per cent, down from a previous high of 32. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Saskatchewan Crop Insurance on Wednesday announced an extension on the June 30 deadline for seeding crops for greenfeed, to July 15.

Producers who have crop insurance will now be able to seed and insure any cereal greenfeed crop — including producers who hadn’t previously endorsed greenfeed on their contracts, the agency said. Crop insurance customers have until July 15 to select that endorsement and seed their greenfeed crop.

According to the provincial ag ministry’s crop report for the week ending June 10, seeding is “mostly complete” in Saskatchewan but a few fields are still being seeded for greenfeed and silage.

“Many areas of the province that are in need of rain did not receive any this past week,” the ag ministry said, except for “localized” rain in northwestern and southeastern cropping areas.

A crop insurance customer who wants to use annual crop acres for livestock grazing or for feed can contact their local Saskatchewan Crop Insurance office, the agency said Wednesday, noting crop insurance customers also have coverage in the event that their annual crops suffer from the dry conditions.

A producer can register a pre-harvest claim if he or she doesn’t want to carry the crop through to harvest. If the producer takes their crop to harvest, but it has a reduced yield, he or she can file a post-harvest claim.

The provincial government on Wednesday also noted the Western Livestock Price Insurance Program (WLPIP) grants producers the opportunity to purchase insurance based on a forward market price for their cattle — and for those who purchased price insurance this spring, the 60-day continuous criteria will be waived for the 2019 grazing season.

Enrolling in AgriStability for the 2019 program year is also still an option for those who haven’t yet done so, the province said, as that enrolment deadline has been pushed back to July 2.

Among other options available to livestock producers, the province noted Crown land lessees with “excess” grazing or hay resources can contact their regional ag ministry offices to request permission to sublease their pasture, graze “non-owned” cattle on the lease, harvest some or all of the hay on the lease and/or sell hay from the lease.

Provincial environment ministry lands may also be available for grazing until Sept. 1 through the Fish and Wildlife Development Fund, the province said. More information on FWDF land is available online. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Provincial Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart on Tuesday announced a “targeted incentive” program aimed at about 1,100 eligible leaseholders, offering the 10 per cent purchase incentive on the sale of eligible land until March 31 next year.

Eligible farmers, who can expect to receive notices about the new program soon in the mail, can continue leasing if they don’t wish to buy the land in question, but will see a 45 per cent premium applied to their standard formula rental rate in 2018.

That premium follows a 15 per cent premium applied in 2016, and a 30 per cent premium applied in 2017, the province said.

Out of about six million acres of farmed Crown land under lease today in the province, about 300,000 acres will be subject to the 45 per cent rental premium, the province said.

Also, unlike previous incentive programs, this one applies only to the 300,000-odd acres subject to the new premium, the province said.

Under provincial policy on Crown farmland sales to lessees, sale price can be set through a land value report provided by the province; an appraisal by an accredited rural appraiser, paid for by the applicant; or an appraisal paid for by the ag ministry.

If either the applicant or the ministry has a problem with the value indicated in the report or appraisal, that party can hire a second accredited appraiser. The average of the two values would be used to set the purchase price.

The new incentive program “supports our government’s consistent approach to putting land in the hands of producers in cases where there is no higher public good from an ecological, environmental, heritage or economic perspective,” Stewart said in a release Tuesday.

Thus, any parcel of land previously deemed ineligible for purchase will remain so, the province said.

Grazing co-operative lands and former federal pastures also won’t be eligible for the sales incentive and won’t be subject to the rent hike, even if those sites include cultivated or formerly cultivated land.

Farmers interested in buying leased Crown land under the new program can call the provincial Agriculture Knowledge Centre at 1-866-457-2377 or find more information and application forms online. — AGCanada.com Network

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Provincial Bill 36, which passed in December, takes effect May 15, requiring an approved helmet for anyone “driving, operating, riding in or on, or being towed by” an off-highway vehicle, and sets out fines for violations.

For the purpose of the new rules, an “off-highway vehicle” is any motorized vehicle built for cross-country travel on land, water, snow, ice, marshes or “other natural terrain.”

Thus, the law covers use of all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles, motorcycles, dirt bikes, utility terrain vehicles and amphibious vehicles, among others.

The bill defines “public land” as Crown land or other land which isn’t privately owned. That includes any areas designated for public off-highway vehicle use, as well as any public roadways and highway rights-of-way.

Bill 36 also sets fines of $155 for not wearing a helmet, and fines of $93 for wearing a helmet that isn’t CSA-compliant or is damaged or improperly modified. Those are the same fines already in place for on-road violations involving motorcycle riders, the province noted.

The law doesn’t require helmets for those using off-highway vehicles on their own property, on other private property with the owner’s permission, or on First Nations reserve or Metis settlement lands (except those with laws requiring it).

The province said the helmet rule doesn’t apply in the performance of “farming or ranching operations exempt from Alberta’s occupational health and safety laws.”

Those who have documented exemptions from Alberta Transportation, and are following the terms of those exemptions, are also exempt from the new helmet law, as are those who wear turbans as “bona fide” members of the Sikh faith, the province said.

Off-highway vehicles that have manufacturer-installed rollover protective structures (ROPS) and seat belts that are being properly worn are also exempt from the helmet rule.

Vehicles that meet standards for motor vehicles designed for on-road use and have seat belts — for example, unmodified 4×4 trucks, SUVs or jeeps — are also exempt, the province said.

Safety helmets under the new law must meet the same standards required for motorcycle helmets, such as CSA Standard CAN3-D230-M85, among others.

“Albertans told us overwhelmingly that they wanted us to make helmets a requirement for OHV riders, and we responded,” Transportation Minister Brian Mason said Monday in a release. “This will keep riders safe so that OHVs can be enjoyed well into the future.”

Noting head injuries are the “No. 1 risk” to off-highway vehicle riders, Brent Hodgson, president of the Alberta Off-Highway Vehicle Association, said the province has “struck the right balance with this legislation.”

On average, according to the provincial Injury Prevention Centre, about 19 people die each year while operating off-highway vehicles in Alberta.

Out of the 185 deaths of ATV riders in Alberta between 2002 and 2013, the province said, 74 were due to head injuries and almost 80 per cent of those deaths involved people not wearing helmets.

Helmet use is still recommended for all off-highway vehicle users, even if they are exempt, the province said. — AGCanada.com Network

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The province on Monday announced its new Provincial Lands Act and related regulations, introduced in the legislature last June, have been formally proclaimed and are now in effect, updating rules it said had been “largely unchanged” since the 1930s.

“This revised legislation is part of a government-wide effort to modernize the legislative framework, provide better environmental protection and keep our province and processes current and forward-looking,” Environment Minister Scott Moe said in a release.

The amended Act, for example, gives the province “the ability to respond and take action when land is being misused, such as issuing immediate stop work orders.”

It also increases the time period of certain long-term leases where “significant investments” are possible, such as for wind power development, and lays out a framework under which provincial Crown leases through the agriculture ministry may be used as security.

Related regulatory amendments also give the province the ability to work with lessees during “extenuating circumstances,” where previously the province’s only option would be to cancel a Crown land lease.

The regulations also provide a new “clear annual deadline” by which a leaseholder must surrender a lease to avoid further rental charges, and authorizes the cancellation of a lease on municipal tax arrears of one year.

The new regulations also clarify what leaseholders can and can’t do to control access on leased Crown land, the province said.

“These updates will help facilitate economic growth and reduce administration processes to improve client service,” Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart said in the same release.

The Act, which the agriculture and environment ministries administer jointly, was “originally drafted to accommodate the settlement of the West” and has gone largely unchanged since then, the province said. — AGCanada.com Network

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The province’s Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agrifoods announced Thursday it has now identified 62 “agriculture areas of interest” to date, totalling about 158,150 acres.

The added 43 areas of Crown land will mark a “significant increase” from the 19 areas already reserved for development, totalling about 38,300 acres, the province said.

“We consulted with farmers, municipalities and other stakeholders who had a great deal of knowledge and interest in this initiative,” Fisheries, Forestry and Agrifoods Minister Steve Crocker said in a release.

Increasing ag production in the province, he said, is also expected to “help farmers and producers reduce costs and dependency on imported dairy forage and grain.”

Also, Premier Dwight Ball said in the same release, “by making Crown land throughout the province available for agriculture development, we are helping farmers expand their operations and encouraging new entrants to see agricultural production as a viable and profitable opportunity.”

Increasing the amount of Crown land for farm use in the province was a recommendation in The Way Forward, the government’s vision document for economic development and improved efficiency, released in November.

The province also pledged in the document to provide Crown lands applications online and to have “new, publicly available, streamlined approval processes” in place, both in 2018. Its Crown Lands administration division today gets about 80 applications per year for agricultural development alone.

“By streamlining the application process it readily makes land available to all agricultural producers but most importantly to young farmers,” said David Simmons, who operates Pure Holsteins Ltd., where the province made its announcement Thursday, at Little Rapids, east of Corner Brook.

According to The Way Forward, Newfoundland and Labrador is now only about “10 per cent self-sufficient” in non-supply managed agrifood requirements.

“It is critical that our province makes significant progress towards food security in light of the global food crisis projected by 2050.” — AGCanada.com Network

CORRECTION, Feb. 28, 2017: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated 62 areas of Crown land had been identified for farm use in addition to, rather than including, the 19 areas already reserved for development. Steve Crocker, now minister of fisheries and land resources, said Feb. 28 the province is “progressing toward making much of the remaining 43 areas available in the very near future.”

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Environment Minister Herb Cox announced Tuesday the province will make about 90,000 acres of Fish and Wildlife Development Fund (FWDF) land available to cattle producers.

The same grazing lease fees that apply on agricultural Crown land will apply to the available FWDF land, the province said, and the land will be made available on a “first come, first served” basis.

Some of the available FWDF land has water sources and is fenced, the province said, but much of it will require temporary fencing or water.

Producers who are awarded access to FWDF lands are responsible for the cost and construction of any necessary improvements, the province added.

A list of available lands by rural municipality is expected to be made available soon on the environment ministry’s website and at its local offices.

“The extremely dry conditions of this spring and summer have left many cattle producers searching for additional pasture,” Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart said in a release. “This grassland will help producers who are facing a shortage of feed for their cattle.”

Opening up the FWDF land, Cox added, “will offer significant acres for cattle producers, and revenue generated as a result of this initiative will help fund future conservation initiatives.”

The land, bought through the provincial Fish and Wildlife Development Fund for conservation and wildlife habitat protection, was previously made available to drought-stressed cattle producers in 2009.

The land to be made available amounts to just over 40 per cent of the province’s FWDF holdings, which total over 219,000 acres.

Of the fund’s total acreage, most is in the province’s aspen parkland region, a strip running from around North Battleford in the northwest to Yorkton and Melville in the southeast.

The province said earlier this month it will now also allow sub-leasing of Crown lease land. Crown land lessees with “excess grazing or hay resources” can contact their regional ag ministry office to seek permission to sublet.

Producers, if need be, may also want to check in with the province’s feed grain and forage listing service, the government said. — AGCanada.com Network

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