To its peril, Canada’s agri-food industry – and indeed, all of Canada — has chugged along for more than a century without a comprehensive agri-food strategy. You’d think whoever is running Ottawa would have made it a priority, given we are active internationally exporting food and so dependent on imports. Consider the consequences if the... Read More
Category: Ag Policy
Susan Curtis, by all accounts, is the ideal partner for a beekeeper. Her multi-generation dairy farm near Joyceville, Ont., grows ample flowering crops to keep bees fed and producing honey. She was even willing to widen and improve an access road for the bee yard, all for the trade off of a few cases of... Read More
Canadian farmers who own dairy or poultry quota may not have to live with the stress that comes from marketing a product on a volatile open market, but their stress comes in another form: the worry that the federal government will pull the rug (or one of the three pillars) out from under the regulatory... Read More
There are still lingering questions as to how farmers access, pay for and use seed varieties under UPOV '91, which Canada adopted with the passing of Bill C-18 back in March of this year. For those that claim that under the act farmers lose their right to save seed, Patty Townsend, executive director of the... Read More
The Canadian Pork Council is exploring the feasibility of a hedging program to help hog producers manage price volatility and cash flow needs. Bev Shipley, MP for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex and chair of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, announced federal funding of up to $169,530 for the project through the federal AgriRisk Initiatives program on... Read More
Ontario politicians should prepare for a little heartburn as they embark on this summer’s farm BBQ circuit. The circuit is a staple in constituencies with rural components. It provides photo opportunities and lets politicians see first hand what a farm looks like. On the business end of things, it gives farmers a chance to air... Read More
Winnipeg-based Canterra Seeds and Limagrain were in Saskatoon, Sask., Thursday to announce the establishment of a new cereal breeding and development partnership, Limagrain Cereals Research Canada. The joint venture will be located in Saskatoon. Limagrain Cereals will bring “significant added value to western Canadian agriculture by developing new varieties of cereals, with a specific focus... Read More
Drought may have surpassed grain transportation as the number one challenge on the collective mind of Western Canadian grain farmers this year, but the need to address long-term logistical challenges should not be forgotten, says an ag economist from the University of Saskatchewan. “In the current situation it looks like basis levels may return to... Read More
Grain Farmers of Ontario today announced it has commenced legal proceedings against the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. “Late last week, Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) filed a request to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to provide an interpretation of the neonicotinoid treated seed regulations,” says Mark Brock, chair of Grain Farmers... Read More
The diversity of North American agriculture is again on display in this week’s news podcast. From the farmer’s role in fighting antibiotic resistance to how Canadian dairy farmers could be affected by a potential Trans-Pacific Partnership to the trends at AgTech Week down in San Francisco, here’s a summary of what happened “This Week on... Read More