So who’s going to buy CWB (formerly "the Canadian Wheat Board")? And where’s the money for new elevators coming from? Will they become "just another grain company"? How will farmers benefit? These are all questions I’ve heard farmers asking each other during intermissions at hockey rinks, at coffee shops and on Twitter over the last... Read More
Category: Ag Policy
Egg Farmers of Canada has announced a partnership with the University of Waterloo to establish a research chair in public policy. Bruce Muirhead, the university’s associate vice president, external research and professor in the school's history department, will fill the position, for which Egg Farmers is providing $110,000 per year for up to seven years.... Read More
A new group made up of several Ontario commodity groups marked the launch of Farm Action Now with an inaugural meeting held earlier this week. The "task force" of farm organizations, representing a broad-section of Ontario's agriculture sector, has been formed, organizers say, to evaluate the fate of Ontario agriculture in the face of looming... Read More
Believe it or not, there are several opportunities, over many months, to shape a bill that's presented in parliament. While, yes, hours of work are put into to drafting a bill that may become law, the parliamentary process allows for interested individuals or groups to have their say on what they want to see changed... Read More
Corn and soybean growers in Ontario know that neonicotinoid-containing seed treatments are under close scrutiny by the public and by the provincial government. When provincial department mandate letters were sent out in September, Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne called for a "meaningful reduction" in neonic use by 2015. As the clock runs down to the end... Read More
The federal and Manitoba governments are offering AgriRecovery funding to help flooded livestock producers cover feed and transportation costs. The Manitoba government estimates 75,000 acres of hayland belonging to approximately 330 farms around Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipegosis were flooded in May and June. Earlier today, Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Manitoba Agriculture, Food... Read More
Editor’s note: Gary Stanford is currently in Geneva, representing Canadian farmers at the Global Grains conference. Follow along by searching the #GaryInGeneva hashtag on Twitter. Gary Stanford, farmer and president of the Grain Growers of Canada wants farmers to know that Bill C-18, the Agricultural Growth Act, contains important and positive changes to several pieces... Read More
Farmers still have a bit of time to evaluate their fields for levels of grubs and wireworms, two key pests that will factor in to the need for a neonicotinoid pesticide seed treatment. And that's good news, because the deadline to ordering fungicide-only corn seed is rapidly approaching. Most companies have a mid- to late-November... Read More
Merck Animal Health has announced "significant progress" in the implementation of its Zilmax Five-Step Plan (follow that link for details). With insights from the company’s advisory board, an extensive assessment and analysis of existing, as well as new product data, was conducted, Merck says. Merck had suspended sales of Zilmax in August of 2013 following... Read More
Municipal elections took place this week in Ontario, delivering to us a whole new slate of wide-eyed municipal councillors. Many of them ran on platforms of change, hope, difference and progress, and I believe they meant it. Typically, municipal councils are populated by well-intentioned people determined to help their own community. Municipal councillors don’t want... Read More