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Sask. rolls out strategic programs

Saskatchewan has signed its bilateral agreement on farm supports with Ottawa and announced its strategic initiatives program for the next five years.

Agriculture minister David Marit, with federal rural economic development minister Gudie Hutchings, announced the $485 million spending plans under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership March 20. It takes effect April 1 and represents the non-business risk management portion of the policy framework.

About $89.4 million will be spent each year, compared to $71.2 million per year in the last agreement.

“It’s a 25 percent increase over the last five years,” Marit said.

Half of that increase goes toward the new Resilient Agriculture Landscapes Program and the other half is spread among the other initiatives.

“It’s to look at water quality, soil health and biodiversity, and we’ll have some overlap,” he said of RALP, which focuses largely on livestock.

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Alberta Honey: A Day at Molenkamp Honey Farms

Video: Alberta Honey: A Day at Molenkamp Honey Farms

When was the last time you read the label on your honey?

We spent a day at Molenkamp Honey Farms with Michael Molenkamp, who has been keeping bees for 17 seasons and runs three to four thousand hives. In mid-September, he was finishing treatments and getting his bees ready for winter, and he walked us through how Alberta honey gets made.

Alberta has just 150 commercial beekeepers running 300,000 colonies, and together they produce 40% of Canada’s honey. Long summer days and golden canola fields give Alberta honey a light flavour that’s hard to match anywhere else.

Molenkamp calls Alberta beekeepers some of the most resilient farmers he knows. There’s plenty of Alberta honey to go around, but a lot on our shelves isn’t from here, so his ask is simple. Give the label a second look and choose honey made by Alberta beekeepers, or buy straight from a beekeeper near you.