Farmers Upset By Sign In Outlook Saskatchewan

May 28, 2021

The Town of Outlook Saskatchewan is located about 80 kilometres southwest of Saskatoon. It's located right along the South Saskatchewan River near the Gardiner Dam.

Settlement of the area began in the early 1900, with farmers and immigrants moving into the area looking for farmland. Since that time, the number one industry in the region has been agriculture. Outlook is even known as the irrigation capital of Saskatchewan. So, it would seem, the vast majority of folks living there understand the importance of agriculture and its impact on the region and on their province.

Recently, a message on the sign outside the Outlook Elementary School suggested not everyone is sold on the virtues of agriculture. The sign read. "Farming affects oceans...chemicals hurt habitats and species. They also decrease oxygen levels." Now apparently, the message was posted by a teacher who was working on a social studies course discussing sustainability and what was posted on the sign out front of the school was a reader's digest version of that study. But imagine your young son or daughter riding on the school bus to town, pulling up and seeing that message written on the sign in front of their school. Randy Emmerson is the director of education with the local school division, which is now apologizing profusely to parents and farmers in the area.

Emmerson says the board is reviewing policies that govern what is put on that sign in front the school in Outlook, which by the way now has the message, "Agriculture is the most healthful....most useful and noble employment of man." That is a quote from the 1st president of the United States, George Washington.

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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.