Did you know that around 70 per cent of Canada's beef exports go to the United States? Depending that much on one market means that if there is ever an issue with the United States border crossing (hello, BSE crisis), Canadian export options become slimmer than we'd like them to be. This is why Ellen... Read More
Category: Ag Policy
The Canadian Seed Trade Association (CSTA) wasted no time in filling the recently vacated role of executive director. Tyler McCann has been chosen by the board of directors to fill the position on an interim basis, replacing Dave Carey. “CSTA is pleased to welcome Tyler McCann as interim executive director," says Georges Chaussé, president of... Read More
Convincing policymakers and politicians that agriculture matters is easy; it's getting them to push for changes and advancements that are tricky. Part of the reason for that is the compartmentalization of the industry, sure, but there are plenty of overarching issues that impact most farmers — and that's where change needs to start. Mary Robinson,... Read More
With no restrictions, spending $153 million seems easy. But when the task at hand is to leverage that $153 million into leap-frogging an entire industry forward, knowing where to commit that cash becomes much more complicated. Bill Greuel, CEO of Protein Industries Canada, is tasked with ensuring the federal Protein Supercluster funding is invested prudently... Read More
Have you ever wondered how countries that buy Canadian wheat learn about each crop-year's characteristics? The story of each crop begins with the harvest sample program, involves a careful analysis of the crop, and continues with crop missions to countries such as Singapore, Ecuador, China, and Mexico. Cam Dahl, president of Cereals Canada, and Gary... Read More
The World Trade Organization (WTO) was created to add stability to global trade by upholding certain rules between trading partners. The organization has been criticized for being too slow, and, at times, ineffective. But the WTO exists for very good reason, says Brian Innes, past president of CAFTA who also is the head of public... Read More
In a great example of rare bipartisan support, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favour of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in landslide fashion. One day removed from an impeachment vote of President Donald Trump, the USMCA passed 385-41. The trade agreement will now move to the U.S. Senate, where a favourable outcome is... Read More
Less than a day after the Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) Ministers of Agriculture had their meeting in Ottawa, farm groups are expressing their frustration with the lack of results from the meeting. Many feel as though the group missed the mark to address key concerns after a lot of producers dealt with a brutal harvest for the... Read More
Canada's hemp industry is pushing towards a whole new future, now that regulatory changes have opened up the opportunity to extract more value from the crop. Ted Haney, executive director of the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance, says that the industry was built on one revenue stream, but its long-term viability depends on the ability to... Read More
In a spin on 'walk before you can run,' Kristjan Hebert says that farmers need to focus on the data they already generate before thinking about large-scale data collection. Hebert, managing partner of Hebert Grain Ventures, says that farmers need to focus on understanding their own numbers such as debt servicing ratio and access and... Read More