Nearly 50 scientists and regulators with Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) hopped on a pair of buses a few weeks ago and spent a day in the field 45 minutes from Ottawa learning about how the crop protection products they regulate are used by farmers. The first-ever PMRA field day, held on a... Read More
Category: Ag Policy
The federal government is investing up to $12.1 million over the next five years in a new canola research cluster under the new Canadian Agricultural Partnership. Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay announced the funding at the Bruce D. Campbell Farm & Food Discovery Centre south of Winnipeg on Tuesday morning. Provincial canola grower groups — Alberta... Read More
For much of our human history, we've toiled to simply meet our most basic of human needs — having enough to eat to survive and raise a family. It's only in recent history, really, that the bulk of North America has moved up from the basics to the privilege of abundant food choices. Last week... Read More
Until now, hemp growers in Canada were allowed only to harvest the grain and/or stalk of the plant. In anticipation of the upcoming Cannabis Act set to be implemented in mid-October, Health Canada recently announced a revision to regulations allowing whole-plant harvest of hemp. Why does this matter? Well, although industrial hemp has low levels... Read More
An intense round of talks between Canada and the U.S. to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came to an end Friday afternoon without an agreement, but with both sides reporting progress and planning to resume negotiations on Wednesday. "We are continuing to work hard, and we are making progress. We're not there... Read More
U.S. corn growers are voicing concerns and disappointment with their federal administration as the penny-per-bushel trade aid announced earlier this week added to frustrations over retaliatory tariffs and how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is handling ethanol policy. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue tried to allay those concerns at the Farm Progress Show in Boone,... Read More
Cleavers is the only loser in the recent approval of a maximum residue limit (MRL) for the active weed-control ingredient quinclorac for use on canola. The resolve by industry to work collaboratively through the international research-based regulatory system means that in 2019, growers will be able to fight cleavers with a new and effective crop... Read More
As the saying goes, what goes around comes around, and never has that been so true perhaps than with politics and current trade talks. Early in the NAFTA 2.0 negotiations the Team Canada approach was to penetrate the U.S. political system at all levels with its NAFTA lobbying. Whether it was governors, U.S. senators, or... Read More
There are many ways to gauge growing conditions, estimate yields, and measure exports from overseas, but likely one of the best ways to get a grip on crop production in a foreign land is to ask someone who's there. Mike Lee, with Green Square Agro Consulting, is an agronomist and crop consultant based in the... Read More
It has been an immensely fast-paced day in regards to NAFTA 2.0 talks. Monday began with Mexico and the United States agreeing to a bilateral trade deal that was described as an "understanding." U.S. President Donald Trump alluded to the fact that NAFTA had a very negative meaning for Americans so he would be giving... Read More