Similar to regulations introduced in Ontario in 2015, Quebec announced this week that farmers will require an agronomist's prescription before accessing any of the three neonicotinoid insecticides, chlorpyrifos (also an insecticide), and the herbicide atrazine. Isabelle Melançon, Quebec's Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change, cited the risk to pollinators as... Read More
Category: Ag Policy
Canada's two major railways supplied less than half of the hopper cars ordered by grain shippers last week, according to data from the Ag Transport Coalition. The farm group and grain shipper coalition's weekly report says Canadian National Railway (CN) only supplied 34 percent of cars that were ordered in week 28 of the crop... Read More
As if NAFTA negotiations weren't complicated enough with trying to figure out what the U.S. administration wants, Mexico's looming election is adding another layer of political uncertainty. The political threat to a successful renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement is particularly concerning for trade-dependent industries like agriculture, as highlighted by two of the... Read More
Protein Industries Canada was named today as one of the winning proponents under the federal Innovation Superclusters Program. The funding model is part of the federal government's Innovation and Skills Plan "to spark growth and help Canada realize its potential as a global leader in innovation" though creating large-scale industry partnerships. Protein Industries Canada, based... Read More
One of North America’s largest advantages has been the infrastructure in place to move agricultural commodities from inland to the coast for export. Farmers and ranchers complain about some of the bottlenecks and issues, but, comparatively speaking to Russia and Brazil, North American highways and byways have historically been in much better shape. That might... Read More
Ontario's soils are losing organic matter. What builds organic matter? Perennial and forage species! But if you're going to plant perennial hay or pasture, you have to have something to feed it to or you won't be farming long enough to see the value of the added organic matter. And that's a slight problem, as... Read More
Farmers and ranchers across Canada and the United States identify with a hard day's work, family, and a life away from the hustle and bustle of the city. You would have to drive many dirt roads before you found a farmer in either country identifying with "the elites." In the Right Honourable Stephen Harper's recent... Read More
With the five-year Growing Forward 2 agriculture framework wrapping up next month, federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay launched six federal programs under the new Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) at the Canada's Agriculture Day celebration in Ottawa on Tuesday. CAP is the acronym for the new $3 billion, five-year federal-provincial-territorial agriculture funding agreement that begins on... Read More
While much of the focus over the past several months has been on the pulse industry, with India's tariffs on pulse crops, Canada's cereal crop value chain has also had its hands full working on market access challenges. Italy, with its new country-of-origin labeling legislation and campaigns spreading doubt about the quality and safety of... Read More
The federal Liberals remain non-committal on whether they will offer compensation to the supply-managed dairy and poultry sectors for market access that will be conceded if the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is ratified. The CPTPP terms agreed to last month would open up an additional 3.25 percent of Canada's domestic dairy... Read More