The long days of seeding time have begun. It was at 8:00 this morning I spotted these support trucks just off the highway four miles north of town and out in the field an air seeder rig sweeping across the land.

From the dust you can see that the land is more than dry enough for this operation and with the promise of season temperatures by Sunday this is definitely the ideal time to get a crop in the ground.

While this farmer is applying both seed and dry fertilizer the anhydrous ammonia trucks are

on the highways and side roads getting the product to the farms doing spring banding. (below)

Many farmers are still parked in their yards (left) as they are waiting for things to warm up and in a few cases those last few snow drifts along the trees to melt away. In all cases the fields are dry and ready for the seeding process.

Though I have been keeping a sharp eye open for field work to begin some farmers have already moved well into the process as can be seen in the picture at the bottom of the

page showing a tractor pulling a set of harrows over an already seeded field. This is about six miles south of Tisdale right on highway #35.

With the news filled with stories about auto company bail outs and the dangers of an H1N1 Influenza A pandemic it was welcomed news today when the Prime Minister and federal minister of Agriculture announced a new billion dollar programme to ensure that farmers and co-operatives have access to credit. Though this offers some comfort to farmers who worry that the government's attention has been so focused on the problems of central Canada it is not a magic bullet. Easing the difficulty for farmers to access credit can be a tempting problem when lower prices may make it difficult to service the debt.

Following his announcement of the credit programme the Prime Minister responded to a number of questions including one about the plans the government has to deal with the "country of origin" regulations now in place in the United States. This regulation has had the effect of placing a huge tarrif on Canadian beef and almost makes it impossible to market hogs south of the border. Prime Minister Harper said that he and the government have voiced their concern to the United States government but he is even more concerned that it is part of an even wider protectionist problem that is developing with the recession world wide. He went on to explain that protectionism not only affects an exporting country like ours but has a detrimental affect on all business world wide.

• Canwest News Service, Federal government makes it easier for farmers to borrow, May 1, 2009, Regina Leader Post
  
• Mills, Sarah, Prime Minister visits Saskatchewan farm, May 1, 2009, CJME Regina