The Ontario government recently rolled out its Pollinator Health Action Plan, a draft of which had been put forward in January, 2016, and up for discussion. The final product, found here, is remarkably similar, and, as many have commented, it's a solid, balanced approach to improving honeybee and native pollinator health in the province. The... Read More
Category: Ag Policy
As America awaits the announcement of the Secretary of Agriculture, speculation rages on what the new Trump presidency will mean for agriculture. In Canada, the opportunistic wave of Trump or the backdraft are possible with so many election promises made and an eagerness to close many deals. At the recent Montana Grain Growers meeting in... Read More
Ontario has released its Pollinator Health Action Plan which includes focusing on four key stressors to honeybee and pollinator health and financial support and increased education for beekeepers. A re-iterated aspirational goal to "restore, enhance and protect" 1 million acres of pollinator habitat is also included in the plan. Found here, the plan is a... Read More
There's certainly a growing emphasis on reducing gender-related barriers in Canadian agriculture, whether that's measured by the success of conferences for women in ag, the launch of the Ag Women's Network, policy projects being led by the Canadian Ag HR Council, or through less formal means within individual workplaces. The topic has been in the... Read More
2016 will be remembered for all sorts of monumental things — many of them bad. If you were in the polling industry in 2016, you may even call it a very bad year. Brexit wasn't exactly a shining example of getting the call right. Then, there's that pesky Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump contest that... Read More
The federal government has announced it's dropping the four-year cumulative duration requirement — also known as the "four-in, four-out" rule — from the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) effectively immediately. It's welcome news for agricultural employers and farm groups. “The feedback we received from agricultural stakeholders is very supportive of these changes," noted Portia MacDonald-Dewhirst,... Read More
The Saskatchewan Pulse Growers' board of directors is keeping its levy non-refundable. The board had one year to respond to a resolution passed at the organization's 2016 annual general meeting requesting the check-off be made refundable. SPG chair Tim Wiens informed members of the decision in a letter distributed December 13 (see below.) SPG is... Read More
While the U.S. ag sector is closely following what's happening in Washington and who's visiting Trump Tower in New York, some of the developments in the transition to the new administration — whether it's renegotiating NAFTA or policy changes that impact corn and soybean demand — will also have implications for Canadian agriculture. Are North... Read More
Grain Growers of Canada has announced its executive for 2016/17, led by new president Jeff Nielsen. Nielsen, who served as vice president in 2015, represents the Western Barley Growers Association, and replaces Gary Stanford, who held the position for the three years and remains on the board representing the Alberta Wheat Commission. “It is an... Read More
A prediction earlier this week from a Canadian academic suggested Donald Trump’s presidency would cause food prices in Canada to rise in 2017. Here’s why. To make America great again, Trump has said he’s going to deport illegal immigrant workers. If he succeeds, that effort will include getting rid of the ballooning number of illegal... Read More