Federal Transport Minister To Hold Talks With Saskatchewan Farm Groups

Oct 07, 2016

The federal transport minister has scheduled a meeting in Saskatchewan to discuss grain movement with farm groups.

Transportation Minister Marc Garneau will hold his first face-to-face meeting with grain producers on October 20th in Saskatoon.

It will give farm organizations an opportunity to discuss the ongoing review of the Canada Transportation Act.

The CTA review’s final report included a recommendation that the Maximum Revenue Entitlement or MRE be scrapped within seven years.

The MRE places a cap on the amount of money railways can charge for shipping grain.

Norm Hall, President of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, says the October 20th meeting with Garneau will be very important.

He says if the MRE is scrapped, studies show farmers could see a 25 to 30 per-cent increase in grain freight rates, meaning a 300 to 400 million dollar increase in freight costs per year to prairie farmers.

Source : CKRM

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.