With the public eye increasingly fixed on agriculture, twitchy farm policy makers may be inclined to act first and ask questions later. And that has farmers worried. For example, last spring in Ontario, more than 200 bee kill incidents were reported. No question about it, that’s a problem. Thousands of hives were affected. What’s the... Read More
Category: Ag Policy
A WTO ruling from late in 2011 sided with Canada, among other countries, that U.S. Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) regulation was "inconsistent with its WTO trade obligations." But instead of amending the labeling requirements in time for the late may deadline, the US has seemingly upped the ante, and will now being to add... Read More
Today, I have far more questions than answers. At FarmTech, I spoke with one farmer about the Alberta Wheat Commission — its proposed role, its goals, who was involved. It all sounded on the up-and-up and very noble, though I got the sense I had heard the speech before. Before that, in Saskatchewan, I spoke... Read More
Once again Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz took to the stage at the FarmTech conference to talk to a packed house about the state of agriculture in Canada. This year saw the Minister announce details on two federal Growing Forward 2 programs as well as address a number of other topics including the lay of... Read More
Earlier this week, I lined up an interview with Dr. Jeannie Gilbert, a plant pathologist at AAFC's Cereal Research Centre, Winnipeg, Man. I wanted to speak with her about the threat of fusarium head blight for 2013 and what farmers can do now to prevent or manage the disease. When I arrived, I soon learned... Read More
A draft of a revised Canadian Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Beef Cattle is up for a 60-day comment period, and the cattle industry is encouraging its members to read the draft and proposed changes before the comment period ends in early March. The process of creating this draft took several... Read More
China has approved four additional Canadian beef facilities that will now be able to export beef to China, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and International Trade Minister Ed Fast announced today. The newly approved establishments will increase the Canadian export capacity for beef in a market estimated by the industry to be worth approximately $20 million... Read More
Any way you look at it, 90 million dollars is a lot of money. That's the amount the Western Grains Research Foundation has accrued over the years due to the railways exceeding their revenue cap. That's sad news for farmers who paid much more than they should have for transport, but the good news is... Read More
The Canadian Grain Commission recently released a summary of the feedback it received regarding impending changes to its user fee system. Industry stakeholders, including farmers, were asked to submit their questions, critiques and suggestions for changes to the not only the user fees, but also changes to the Canada Grains Act. Generally, there seems to... Read More
The governments of Canada and Ontario are making a joint investment to help farmers adopt innovative and sustainable on-farm water management practices. That's according to Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Ted McMeekin who jointly announced a new initiative that will focus on finding new technologies and solutions... Read More