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The soybean industry in Canada is seeking opportunities to expand cultivation due to economic and environmental benefits of growing soybean. Climate projections indicate that soybean expansion into Saskatchewan would be possible with the increases in the available crop heat units under a future warmer climate; however, crop water availability could limit yields. Using a crop growth model, we simulated soybean yields within the Canadian Regional Agricultural Model regions in Saskatchewan for the near-term (2030s), mid-term (2050s), and distant future (2070s) periods under different climate scenarios. Soybean yields were simulated without water stress (potential yield), with water stress (rainfed yield), and under full and partial irrigation scenarios. Irrigation water needs were estimated under the irrigation scenarios and irrigation water availability was discussed. Our results suggest that reasonable and likely more profitable yields (∼2000–2500 kg ha−1) can be achieved under rainfed conditions in the Black soil zone neighbouring Manitoba but soybean production would be less favourable in the Dark Brown soil zone and least favourable in the Brown soil zone. Northeastern regions in the Black soil zone were found to be suitable for growing soybean cultivars in the maturity group (MG) 0 in the distant future and MG 00 in the mid-term under the medium–high greenhouse gas emission scenarios. Soybean would still not be suitable in the northwestern region. Our results indicate that regions in central Saskatchewan requiring 120–170 mm of irrigation are more likely to benefit from the proposed Lake Diefenbaker Irrigation Projects in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithoprobe's sponsorship has led to the acquisition of paleomagnetic data from ~20 units throughout the Paleoproterozoic Trans-Hudson Orogen (THO) of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, essentially the first such data for the region. Discussed summarily in this paper, they provide an initial framework for the THO's tectonic evolution. They show that the Archean Hearne and Superior cratons were at subtropical and subpolar paleolatitudes, respectively, at ~1875 Ma, with the Lynn Lake – LaRonge arc midway between them in the Manikewan Ocean. By ~1855 Ma, this ocean was still ~5500 ± 700 km wide, and its seafloor was subducting northwestward under the Hearne craton and pericratonic Peter Lake domain margin with the coeval development of an Andean-type continental magmatic arc, the Wathaman–Chipewyan batholith. Between ~1855 and ~1810 Ma, coalescing apparent polar wander path (APWP) segments record closing of the ocean at a rate of ~12 cm/a, trapping and accreting the several separate intervening terranes (Flin Flon, Hanson Lake, Lynn Lake – LaRonge, Rottenstone, and presumably also other THO terranes). From ~1815 to ~1775 Ma, the assembled terranes drifted as a coherent craton, yielding a stillstand and hairpin in the APWP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Economic base analysis is a limited but useful tool for measuring forest dependence. It cannot measure the full range of forest values (e.g., subsistence, amenity, bequest, and existence values). However, economic base analysis utilizes widely available census data to provide accurate measures of communities dependent on industrial forest activity. This analysis includes Indian reserves and rural census subdivisions previously excluded in studies of economic base dependence. Economic base dependence measures are further improved by including a transfer payment sector. This paper presents findings of forest industry dependence measures using 1991 census data. Results show that including Indian reserves and other rural census subdivisions in the analysis increases the number of forest industry dependent places and population in the Prairie Provinces. The addition of the transfer payment sector to the economic base provides a more comprehensive account of the sources that contribute to the economic diversity of rural locations. These geographical and sectoral refinements to economic base calculations result in a more accurate accounting of forest industry dependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]