Along with United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack and Attorney General Merrick Garland, U.S. President Joe Biden hosted a roundtable to address consolidation in the meat industry and the impacts on the cattle sector. President Biden opened the roundtable, held January 3, 2022, by mentioning the 50-14 proposed legislation by Tester/Grassley; how... Read More
Category: Ag Policy
You're out in a piece of new machinery and something in the computer system breaks down. Are you equipped to fix it? Do you have the right to repair it? Geoff Backman, manager of business development and markets at the Alberta Wheat and Barley Commissions, says farmers' frustrations continue to grow as they don't have... Read More
Kody Blois, Liberal Member of Parliament for Kings-Hants, N.S., was recently named chair of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food in the House of Commons. Blois joined RealAg Radio host Shaun Haney to break down the context of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, and what kind of work they do. "We're parliamentarians... Read More
AgriStability, the whole farm, business risk management program has been in place for Canadian farmers for 16 years. In that time, it's been maligned and criticized, and it continues to be subject to an ongoing tug-of-war between federal and provincial politicians. But with a new ag policy framework to be unveiled for 2023, changes to... Read More
Former federal Agriculture Minister Bob Speller has passed away at the age of 66. Speller (above left) was named Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food by Prime Minister Paul Martin in December 2003, during the Canadian cattle industry's BSE crisis. He passed away on Dec. 16 at a care facility near Waterford, Ontario, following an illness.... Read More
Farmers Edge has announced the creation of DigiAg Risk Management Inc., a subsidiary of Farmers Edge. This new unit will provide farmers across Canada with parametric insurance products, risk transfer solutions, and group benefits, the company says. DigiAg is the sole managing general agency (MGA) with access to proprietary, field-centric datasets coming directly from broadacre... Read More
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has issued mandate letters to his ministers, outlining the Liberal government's priorities for the session of Parliament that started last month. The letters were made public on Thursday (Dec. 16), 51 days after the cabinet was sworn in, and the second last day of sitting in the House of Commons before... Read More
2021 has been a tough weather year. From prolonged drought and excessive heat, to the flooding witnessed in recent weeks in British Columbia — weather disasters have had a tremendous impact on Canadian farms and agriculture businesses. Erik Davies, from Barefoot Consulting, has spent his career working on disaster recovery and risk management issues. Last... Read More
A month into the job as Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Rural Economic Development, Nate Horner says he's catching up with producer groups in the province and working to get up to speed on the priorities for Alberta agriculture. Up first on the docket following his appointment was the Federal-Provincial-Territorial ministers meeting last month, where... Read More
New details on how the federal government plans to rebate carbon taxes paid by farmers in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta were included in the Dec. 14 fiscal update presented by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. The Liberal government had previously promised, in the lead-up to the federal budget in spring 2021, that it would refund... Read More