Category: Ag Policy

Grain Farmers of Ontario met December 18, 2014, with government representatives to ask the provincial government to abandon the proposed seed treatment regulations and, instead, "support an approach that will work for the complexities of both grain farming and bee keeping." "Family farmers need your commitment to agriculture now," says GFO of the provincial government,... Read More

Guest editorial by Henry Vos, a former Canadian Wheat Board director from Alberta. Editor's note: This week the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board, a group that includes some former CWB directors, applied to have the Supreme Court hear their appeal to move ahead with a class action lawsuit against the federal government. The $17... Read More

Ontario has announced the Greenhouse Nutrient Feedwater Regulation. This new regulation, the government says, will streamline environmental compliance and will make it easier for greenhouse growers to comply with regulation regarding the disposal of greenhouse nutrient feedwater. Many greenhouse operators use nutrient solutions to grow their produce. After reusing multiple times, operators sometimes must dispose... Read More

Transparency needs to be built into the federal government’s plan to create a producer payment protection fund for Western Canada, says the chair of Keystone Agricultural Producers’ grains, oilseeds and pulses committee. Farm groups, including KAP, Grain Growers of Canada and the Canadian Canola Growers Association, are generally welcoming Bill C-48, which was introduced in... Read More

Canada's rules and regulations regarding plant breeder's rights adhere to a convention that's over 35 years old, even though there is a more modern, widely accepted convention that's a mere 23 years old — UPOV '91. Bill C-18, currently in the parliamentary process, will bring Canada in line with UPOV '91, a move that has... Read More

What’s the danger of building regulations on a “precautionary principle?” Is the Ontario government’s push to regulate neonicotinoids moving too quickly? That’s part of the discussion that Real Agriculture’s Bernard Tobin had with Paul Wettlaufer and Mark Wales, both of whom are farmers and directors with Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA). In the interview below... Read More

Two webex meetings and two in-person public consultation meetings took place in Ontario this week. At issue is the proposed increased regulation of neonicotinoid seed treatments for corn and soybean crops. Real Agriculture’s Bernard Tobin attended the London meeting on Tuesday (you can hear a recap of the event here), and spoke with Steve Klose,... Read More

The first public consultation meeting regarding impending neonicotinoid seed treatment regulations got underway yesterday in London, Ontario. Real Agriculture’s Ontario field editor Bernard Tobin was there to cover the event. The meeting format may have surprised some, as opportunities for individuals to speak were kept to a minimum. Instead, government officials from both the agriculture... Read More

The federal government introduced a bill in the House of Commons on Tuesday that contains measures aimed at improving producer payment security when a grain buyer fails to pay for delivered grain. Bill C-48 — the Modernization of Canada's Grain Industry Act — would also update the mandate of the Canadian Grain Commission and adjust... Read More

With the deadline for submissions just weeks away, farm groups are making their recommendations to the Canada Transportation Act Review Panel on how the Canadian rail system can be improved. Although the statutory review of the Canada Transportation Act looks at the legislative and policy environment surrounding the Canadian transportation system as a whole, grain... Read More