Despite President-elect Trump's clear intention to remove the United States from the deal, Japan became the first country in the Trans-Pacific Partnership to ratify the 12 country trade agreement on Friday. The move is seen as being somewhat symbolic, since the TPP's text requires U.S. participation. Trump has said he will pull America out of... Read More
Category: Canadian Agriculture Policy
One of the highest-ranking public servants in the federal agriculture department is leaving Ottawa to become Ontario's Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Greg Meredith has worked for the federal government for more than 30 years, serving as Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM), Strategic Policy with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada since 2010. He was... Read More
The Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Crop’s (CRSC) has created an agro-ecosystem working group. The group has created a "vision for sustainability" for Canadian agriculture over the next 10 years. With a commitment to using science as the guiding principal for development of 12 key outcomes for 2026, the seven member organizations of the working group... Read More
Cities and towns are approving land development now that may not happen for a decade. If we're to protect farmland from being swallowed by ever-expanding municipal boundaries, we need to act now to stop it, says Keith Currie, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) . Currie's organization is one of 16 farm groups... Read More
Donald Trump doesn't think highly of the document John Weekes spent several years of his life helping craft in the '90s. "My wife teases me about it. 'You hear that? The worst deal ever!'" jokes Weekes, in our conversation below. Having served as Canada's chief negotiator for the North American Free Trade Agreement, he has... Read More
It's estimated that an average of 350 acres of arable land per day are gobbled up in Ontario alone. While urban sprawl may have less of an acres-per-day impact in less populous provinces, the permanent loss of farmland is and should be a major concern not just for farmers, but for urbanites, too. When's the... Read More
Update, as of Dec. 6: The offices for all three commissioners at the Canadian Grain Commission are empty. The offices for the top three positions at the Canadian Grain Commission — the government department that regulates the country's grain industry — will be vacant as of next week. The chief commissioner's chair has been empty... Read More
President-elect Donald Trump says he plans to spend part of his first day in the Oval Office issuing a notification of intent to withdraw the U.S. from the "potential disaster" that is the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Trump has spoken in favour of bilateral deals, and possibly got a jump on one with Japan by meeting Prime... Read More
Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart reiterated the province's opposition to the federal government's carbon tax plan at Agribition this week. "It's going to impose huge costs on agriculture if it rolls out the way it's been heralded. It'll have the effect of making us uncompetitive in most of our markets because our competitors are not... Read More
We are two months from the Donald Trump inauguration and as he builds his cabinet, both sides of the aisle cheer or express disappointment. But there are other things happening inside the Trump camp that are likely creating stress for the future of his trade policy. Going back to the campaign, there has been one... Read More