With seeding just two months away, Canada's pulse crop industry is in limbo, facing the threat of not having access to its largest export market as of the end of March. India's government says it will not extend a derogation (or an exemption) allowing pulses from Canada to be fumigated with methyl bromide upon arrival,... Read More
Category: Ag Policy
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is one of the cornerstones of food safety in Canada. Federal inspectors monitor meat and food processing plants, feed mills, and even farms. But beyond what we tend to hear in the media about inspections, the CFIA has much larger responsibilities, some of which need to be separated from... Read More
Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate Maxime Bernier performed very well in the leadership debate held at the Manning Conference over the weekend according to many delegates, but Canadian dairy farmers were left rather concerned. Not surprisingly, Bernier maintained his stance of being against supply management for dairy, egg and poultry sectors. On Friday afternoon... Read More
Sometimes when you respond to someone attacking you verbally you need to communicate in a way that will resonate with the people you are trying to influence. Due to the creation of the term "fake news" by Donald Trump, this term has become mainstream but it resonates with people. Trump followers have rallied around it.... Read More
If you need any more evidence that times are changing in farming, look no further than a new partnership between the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) and an activist group called Environmental Defence. You likely know the former. The OFA describes itself as Canada’s largest voluntary farm organization, representing more than 36,000 farm families across... Read More
The idea that Manitoba's commodity organizations need to work more closely together to provide more value to members — possibly going as far as merging — was formally introduced and discussed recently at CropConnect. "All these organizations, particularly in Manitoba, have basically the same membership, doing very similar projects, with the same money, going after... Read More
If new rail legislation the federal government promised to introduce this spring is to be passed before the end of the session in June, it will have to be tabled soon. "One would imagine with the legislative calendar, it's going to be have to be in the next several weeks," says Steve Pratte, rail policy... Read More
It was a great week for Canada in terms of trade on several fronts. You can say many negative things about Prime Minister Trudeau, but you cannot take away his government's effort to extend Harper's commitment to trade. There is much discussion and renegotiation to still happen, but the week of February 13th was very... Read More
The Trans-Pacific Partnership is dead, and Canada needs to move on to 'plan B' for increasing market access into Asia, according to Glen Hodgson, senior fellow with the Conference Board of Canada. "The Japanese are trying to keep it alive, but it's effectively dead. I do think we should be developing a 'plan B' for... Read More
How easily could your farm business absorb an added $120,000 bill? That's approximately what Jan Vanderhout, co-owner of Beverly Greenhouses, says the new Ontario carbon tax will cost him this year, or just over $6,000 per acre of greenhouse space. Vanderhout, a third-generation greenhouse grower and the chair of the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers'... Read More