The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW Canada) recently presented to the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit to advocate for better health and safety protections for migrant workers labouring in the Windsor, Ont., area. The county and area has been hard hit by COVID-19 at local farms and farm businesses, including hundreds of positive cases... Read More
Category: Agriculture Policy
Cattle prices are holding steady for most of the U.S. and Western Canada on strong wholesale demand. Ranchers, too, are cautiously optimistic as pasture and hay supplies are good and calf prices have been holding steady. It's not all sunshine and green grass, however, says Anne Wasko of Gateway Livestock Exchange, as there are still... Read More
Premier Doug Ford set up at Lambton-Kent-Middlesex-area Carven Farms to announce not only the province's $7 billion share of the federal $19 billion "safe re-start" of the economy, but also to announce the planned bump to Ontario's risk management programs would go ahead a year early. The federal transfer payment is to cover health care,... Read More
More than two months after the federal government announced $50 million in emergency funding for provinces that want to offer cattle set-aside programs, the Manitoba government has still not released any information on what the program will look like for beef producers in the province. The cattle set-aside initiatives aim to help cover the costs... Read More
For most of Canada, producers are playing the waiting game. They're keeping an eye on their crops and are getting ready for harvest, but they might be wondering what the markets are doing and how they'll market their commodities. Canola is the go-to crop for profitability on the Prairies. Some areas definitely have enough moisture,... Read More
Recent restrictions placed on the temporary foreign worker (TFW) program in Canada have revealed the fragility of the Canadian food supply chain according to a new report from Robert Falconer, policy analyst with the University of Calgary's Simpson Centre School of Public Policy. Falconer recently joined Shaun Haney on RealAg Radio to discuss the report,... Read More
By now you've heard of the Prime Minister's latest scandal, this time over his family's involvement and government support of the WE Charity. It's the third ethics probe/scandal that this prime minister has been involved in — and this latest gaffe makes me think about kid's sports. Have your kids played a sport where it... Read More
Canada and the U.S. share a border, have integrated trade systems, and similar crop mixes. The similarities don't end there, either. Both Canada and the U.S. are dealing with trade disruption across several commodities, and are suffering from COVID-19 related shutdowns. There are differences, too, of course, and in this RealAg LIVE! Shaun Haney is... Read More
By Ghislain Gervais, president of Sollio Cooperative Group During the lockdown, Canadians showed a renewed interest in Canadian agricultural products. This increased consumer enthusiasm for their agri-food sector provides an opportunity to reinvest in agriculture and food processing. Everywhere, thousands of jobs have been suspended or lost across many sectors. The gradual resumption of economic... Read More
On this edition of RealAg LIVE!, host Shaun Haney's guest is Sean Speer, assistant professor of Public Policy at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, and former senior economic advisor to Stephen Harper. Shaun and Sean discuss the future of work and the impact on rural communities and agriculture,... Read More