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Provincial Ag Minister Bob Bjornerud


Delegates attending this weeks SARM convention got some good news on the agriculture front.

Provincial Ag Minister Bob Bjornerud announced Federal-Provincial funding of $1.8 million dollars to help producers and RM’s in the control beavers, rats, wild boars and gophers:

“Five hundred thousand of course for beavers, we give the five hundred thousand to SARM and they adminiter it so that's going to be there again this year, some of the other funding projects that were going to take part in again in an ongoing basis, we're increasing the funding for rats to a million dollars last year we were around seven hundred fifty thousand, so were up to a million for the rat control program, I think that is very important”

The Gopher Control Rebate Program will remain in place giving producers a 50 per cent rebate on eligible gopher control products.

Keeping with that the Pest Management Regulatory Agency has also approved registration of two per cent liquid strychnine for use in 2012 to help control gophers.

Meanwhile the use of Grain Bags is becoming more common on farms throughout the province and with that in mind Saskatchewan’s Grain Bag Recycling Pilot Project which was introduced last year has been extended for another two years.

Provincial Agriculture Minister Bob Bjornerud made the announcement yesterday at SARMs Annual convention saying that

“Grain bag receycling we're also going to put those dollars back in again and about two hundred ten thousand provincial funding goes into that”

In the first year of the program, Saskatchewan farmers recycled approximately 275,000 pounds of agricultural plastics and baler twine.

Farmers and ranchers can access collection sites across the province in Viscount, Abbey, Unity, Hirsch, Macoun, Kelvington and Prince Albert.

Bjornerud also announced he stepping down as Ag Minister after the next cabinet shuffle sometime this spring.