What do you think is the largest opportunity for agronomic research in Western Canada? What are the biggest holdups? What's the capacity now and going forward? These are big questions, and questions that deserve an answer. Until recently, though, many discussions about the future of agronomic research in Western Canada stopped at the question of... Read More
Category: Canadian Agriculture Policy
Whether it was the rail transportation fiasco in Western Canada, the ongoing country-of-origin labeling dispute with the U.S., the Canada-E.U. trade deal, UPOV '91, bee health, the Canadian Wheat Board...the list goes on — 2014 was another eventful and exciting year in Canadian agriculture. Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz joined RealAg’s Kelvin Heppner to look back... Read More
Grain Farmers of Ontario met December 18, 2014, with government representatives to ask the provincial government to abandon the proposed seed treatment regulations and, instead, "support an approach that will work for the complexities of both grain farming and bee keeping." "Family farmers need your commitment to agriculture now," says GFO of the provincial government,... Read More
Guest editorial by Henry Vos, a former Canadian Wheat Board director from Alberta. Editor's note: This week the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board, a group that includes some former CWB directors, applied to have the Supreme Court hear their appeal to move ahead with a class action lawsuit against the federal government. The $17... Read More
Transparency needs to be built into the federal government’s plan to create a producer payment protection fund for Western Canada, says the chair of Keystone Agricultural Producers’ grains, oilseeds and pulses committee. Farm groups, including KAP, Grain Growers of Canada and the Canadian Canola Growers Association, are generally welcoming Bill C-48, which was introduced in... Read More
Canada's rules and regulations regarding plant breeder's rights adhere to a convention that's over 35 years old, even though there is a more modern, widely accepted convention that's a mere 23 years old — UPOV '91. Bill C-18, currently in the parliamentary process, will bring Canada in line with UPOV '91, a move that has... Read More
What’s the danger of building regulations on a “precautionary principle?” Is the Ontario government’s push to regulate neonicotinoids moving too quickly? That’s part of the discussion that Real Agriculture’s Bernard Tobin had with Paul Wettlaufer and Mark Wales, both of whom are farmers and directors with Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA). In the interview below... Read More
The federal government introduced a bill in the House of Commons on Tuesday that contains measures aimed at improving producer payment security when a grain buyer fails to pay for delivered grain. Bill C-48 — the Modernization of Canada's Grain Industry Act — would also update the mandate of the Canadian Grain Commission and adjust... Read More
With the deadline for submissions just weeks away, farm groups are making their recommendations to the Canada Transportation Act Review Panel on how the Canadian rail system can be improved. Although the statutory review of the Canada Transportation Act looks at the legislative and policy environment surrounding the Canadian transportation system as a whole, grain... Read More
Panel thus morning about Grain Strategies exchange rates, freights, GMO’s, all in buying decisions #GaryinGeneva pic.twitter.com/UItItUj3Hb — Gary Stanford (@senatrstanford) November 13, 2014 Many in Western Canada may be surprised to learn that the Triffid flax fiasco of 2009 is still weighing heavily on the minds of some European customers. That’s according to Gary Stanford,... Read More