The Canadian agricultural industry and seed needs and demands looks nothing like it did in the early 1900s, when the Seeds Act was first enacted. While the act has gone through some changes since its inception, the federal government launched a full-scale modernization of the seed industry four years ago. Now through the second consultation... Read More
Category: Ag Policy
Six of Canada's biggest business and industry associations, including the Canadian Canola Growers Association (CCGA), have written a joint letter to Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland asking her to scrap a proposed change to capital gains tax announced in the federal budget last month. In addition to the CCGA, the May 9th... Read More
When it comes to agriculture and the environment, some people see agriculture as a solution, while others view it as a problem. And in politics, people with different perspectives and levels of awareness about farming often sit in the same caucus or cabinet, influencing where a party stands on environmental policies that affect agriculture. Canada's... Read More
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency's third and final ruling announced Friday on gene-editing for crop variety development clears the path for this precise, cost-effective plant breeding tool to be used in Canada. Does this mean farmers will have access to new drought-resistant or nitrogen-efficient varieties for next year? Not so fast, says Krista Thomas, vice-president... Read More
There's more work to do to improve where canola's carbon intensity score ranks in the tax credit regime for renewable fuels in the U.S., according to the executive director of the Canadian Oilseed Processors Association (COPA). After taking a few days to digest the U.S. Treasury Department's awaited announcement last week of new requirements for... Read More
By Cam Dahl, general manager for Manitoba Pork It is not your great-granddaddy’s farm anymore. While some may have nostalgia for the old farm with a little red barn that housed a few chickens, a couple of pigs, and a dairy cow, it is better for both the environment and the economy that agriculture has... Read More
There's no shortage of demand for Canadian beef in South Korea, but the country's import tariff regime is making it difficult for Canadian beef to compete with meat from the U.S. and Australia, according to the president of the Canadian Cattle Association. Nathan Phinney and other representatives from the CCA and Canada Beef were in... Read More
May 3, 2024 will go down as "a ground-breaking day for Canadian agriculture," says the Canada Grains Council's vice-president for trade policy and seed innovation. That's because the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) published the third and final update regarding the rules for gene-edited crops going forward, clearing a regulatory pathway for them to be... Read More
This week, the Auditor General published an evaluation of the federal government has implemented its climate plan for agriculture, and the results were not good. My initial reaction to this was not shock or surprise, as the targets seemed lofty, difficult to measure, disconnected from actual practices, and more designed to grab headlines than actually... Read More
In the last eight years plus, Canadians have been asked to consult on several different proposed policy changes by the federal government. Some of these consultations move a policy forward. Others, like the Grain Act review process or the Sustainable Ag Strategy, results in a "What we heard" document and not much more. Then, there's... Read More