AG Minister Lyle Stewart Comments on Budget

Jun 06, 2016

The Province has handed down its provincial budget which is forecasting a 434-million-dollar deficit for this year.

Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart says his department’s budget is up 7.5% mainly due to the higher crop price projections for the business risk management programs like Crop Insurance and Agri-Stability, while other areas remain about the same.

"Ag Innovation and Research, pest control, disease surveillance, trade and market development, AG awareness are all funded about the same as previous years. Industry grants such as the 24H, Ag in the Classroom, Agribition, things of that nature are $4.2 million again."

He notes the spending is pretty much unchanged from the previous budgets Ag Research is being funded at 26.8 million dollars with 2 million earmarked for the Global Institute for Food Security.

Source : Discoverestevan

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.