There has been a tremendous amount of fanfare and anticipation regarding the intended expansion of canola crushing capacity on the Canadian Prairies, driven mainly by expected demand for renewable diesel across North America. Companies such as Cargill, Richardson, Federated Co-op, Viterra, Bunge, and Ceres Global Ag have all jumped into the fray, announcing hundreds of... Read More
Category: Ag Policy
When Doug Ford's provincial government changed the boundaries for Toronto's Greenbelt in 2022, it failed to consider environmental, agricultural, and financial risks and impacts. It also proceeded with the deal with little input from experts or affected parties, and favoured certain developers/landowners, says Ontario's auditor general, Bonnie Lysyk. The auditor general says that provincial government... Read More
The Alberta and federal governments have decided to reopen the 2023 AgriStability program to help producers affected by drought and wildfires since the original April 30 enrolment deadline. Farmers and ranchers can now sign up for AgriStability through Alberta's Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) until September 29. “Our government has listened to farmers and ranchers... Read More
Every year, Olds College of Agriculture and Technology announces a Partner of The Year award. This year, Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) is the recipient. The award was presented at AgSmart held at Olds, Alta., earlier this week. The award recognizes the successful joint initiatives undertaken by AFSC and Olds College. Notable projects include initiatives... Read More
Canada's railways are navigating two notable federal policy changes — new rules regarding downtime for railway workers and the return of extended interswitching — as they prepare to move the 2023 crop from Western Canada to market. Both CN and CPKC have published their 2023-24 grain plans to mark the start of the 2023-24 crop... Read More
Both of Canada's major railways — Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) — have published their annual grain transportation plans, coinciding with the start of 2023-24 crop year on August 1. Federal legislation that was implemented after the grain backlog that occurred ten years ago this fall requires the railways to submit... Read More
The Government of Ontario is launching a new round of the Meat Processors Capacity Improvement Initiative, with support of the federal government's Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (SCAP) program. The $10 million program will provide funding to eligible free-standing meat plants and abattoirs to make short-term investments in meat handling and processing equipment, technologies, and practices... Read More
Last month, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith named her new provincial cabinet, including a new Minister for Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation. RJ Sigurdson, the MLA for Highwood, has been appointed to the position, with former ag minister Nate Horner moving to the finance portfolio. RealAg Radio host Shaun Haney had the opportunity to meet with Minister... Read More
This week's cabinet shuffle lived up to the hype of being significant, especially for agriculture. Prior to the shuffle, I wrote about the low chance that (now former) Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau would leave Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, but that was proved to be wrong on Wednesday morning. The shocker was not only that she was... Read More
In politics, often times the battle of inches is brought up. However, it may have been a battle of several hundred yards that lead to the recent federal cabinet shuffle, says Derek Robinson, founder and CEO of Mash Strategy. According to pollsters such as Abacus Data and Leger Polling, the Liberal Party of Canada is... Read More