As expected with lower crop prices, new data from Farm Credit Canada shows the red-hot market for farmland cooled off in 2014. According to FCC's annual Farmland Values Report released April 13th, the average value of agricultural land in Canada rose by 14.3 percent in 2014 — down from an increase of 22.1 percent in... Read More
Category: Ag Policy
Ontario beef farmers will now have access to double the individual loan limits under the Ontario Feeder Cattle Loan Guarantee program. For the purchasing of feeder cattle, new members who are enrolled in the program are now able to access a loan for up to $100,000 (an increase of $50,000), and existing members are now... Read More
If you saw the 2011 movie Contagion, you know how bird flu can be vilified. Movie goers left the theatre scared senseless that any traveller they encountered could be a ticking time bomb, as a result of a virus that appeared to spread from the close association between poultry and humans on some Asian farms.... Read More
The Supreme Court of Canada has decided it will not hear the class action case brought forward by four farmers representing the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board. The decision upheld previous rulings by the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal, which rejected most of the group's $17 billion lawsuit against the federal... Read More
The debate over whether or not it is a good idea to have your children vaccinated is one that every person in agriculture needs to pay attention to. I use the word debate not because there is any argument — the value and safety of vaccines has been proven time and again. I would fall... Read More
To underline the value of research at universities in the province, the Council of Ontario Universities has launched a campaign inviting the public to vote on what it considers to be the top 50 “game changing” research breakthroughs in the past century. Universities were asked to forward their suggestions to the council, which then chose... Read More
The head of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is accusing the union that represents food inspectors of "unnecessarily undermining Canadians' confidence in their food safety system." The Agriculture Union issued a news release this week saying cost-cutting within the CFIA is creating an inspector shortage that is putting Canadians' health at risk. As an example,... Read More
Nobody wants to be stuck with a crop that suddenly has no market, especially when it’s due to avoidable circumstances. While Canada’s regulatory process and international trade policies are designed to prevent situations where residues from pesticides and other tools used to grow crops become trade obstacles, each farmer must still carry out their own... Read More
The Ontario government released today its draft regulation concerning the sale and use of neonicotinoid treated corn and soybean seed as of July 1, 2015. The draft regulation is open for comments until May 7, 2015. The stated goal of the regulations is to reduce neonic-treated corn and soy acres by 80% by 2017. In... Read More
The Canadian poultry sector is working with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to minimize the impact the outbreak of H5N2 avian influenza in the U.S. has at home. Following findings of the highly pathogenic strain, the CFIA has restricted imports of live birds and poultry products from Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and... Read More