Keith Currie

Saskatchewan had forecast a more than $1 billion surplus for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, but fresh budget documents released last month show that surplus has completely evaporated, leaving it with an approximate $482 million deficit for the year instead.

The goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fertilizer use by 30 per cent kicked up more dust than a tractor on a grid road when it was first announced by the federal Liberal government last summer.

The consequences of last summer's searing drought are being felt on farms and ranches across the Prairies, where some livestock producers are heading into a long, cold winter with dangerously low supplies of feed and water.

Employers bringing thousands of agricultural labourers into Canada in the coming weeks will be required to quarantine them before they can work, and the federal government is promising to offset some of the costs.