KAP brought forward some key resolutions to the Canadian Federation of Agriculture AGM this week

Mar 01, 2024

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture wrapped up its AGM yesterday.

Members passed 53 resolutions that will outline the groups focus in the coming year.

This year’s resolutions cover a range of issues, including: conservation, climate change, labour, rural infrastructure, crop protection, international trade, risk management and much more.

Three resolutions brought forward by the Keystone Agricultural Producers passed.

One resolution called on the CFA to lobby the Pest Management Regulatory Agency to amend regulations to allow for more flexibility for research in using drones for pesticide applications.

KAP'S vice president Jake Ayre says there are only a few select products that are currently approved by the PMRA to be sprayed by a drone.

"A lack of data currently exists that prevents the further advancement of pesticide applications using drones. The current regulatory environment makes it a challenge to advance drone research in an expidited manner and various amendments to the PCP (Pest Control Product) Regulations would assist in advancing drone research. So the ask here is just even to get the research done we need to see regulations changed."

Other KAP resolutions that passed called on the CFA to lobby the Government of Canada to incentivize the use of renewable diesel as an alternative fuel source for agriculture.

And for the CFA to lobby the Canadian Grain Commission to work with producers and grain companies to improve clarity and fairness within the grain contracts.

KAP'S vice president Jake Ayre says in the last few years there's been a massive focus on grain contracts with the recent droughts.

He pointed out there's been a lot of things in the contracts that are unclear for farmers.

Source : Pembinavalley online

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.