The reference margin limit (RML) of AgriStability was a feature put in place back in 2013 with Growing Forward 2, and since then has been a confusing and misunderstood feature of the program. The recent agreement to business risk management program reform has caused quite a stir, but what does the RML removal mean for... Read More
Category: Canadian Agriculture Policy
Health Canada has opened consultations on how Canada regulates plants with novel traits, including those produced through gene editing technology, such as CRISPR-Cas9. The 60-day consultation kicked off March 25th, and grain industry leaders are pushing for all those in the value chain to weigh in on the importance of the modernization of the regulations.... Read More
The federal government has the right to impose a national price on pollution, says the Supreme Court of Canada. That means the government can set the standard by which the provinces deliver carbon pricing. Several provinces and producer groups disagreed with the carbon pricing scheme — and still do, in principle — but with this... Read More
The most recent meeting of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) ag leaders came to a conclusion Thursday without a consensus on Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Marie-Claude Bibeau's proposed AgriStability changes. Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, says that the conclusion of the FPT meetings was a good deal for farmers, but the... Read More
The meeting of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial ag leaders ended without a full agreement on what Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Marie-Claude Bibeau proposed back in November, 2020. At that time, Bibeau offered to remove the reference margin limit and increase the coverage level from 70 per cent to 80 per cent. The cost structure of... Read More
A word that continues to surface when carbon offsets come up is permanence. The idea that longevity in the practices implemented in order to generate or claim carbon offsets needs to be defined. Dr. Mario Tenuta, professor of applied soil ecology in the department of soil science at University of Manitoba, says that it's a... Read More
The Supreme Court of Canada upheld the federal government's right to impose a price on carbon on provinces in a decision announced Thursday morning. The decision passed in a 6-3 ruling. The "price of pollution" is set to increase to $170/tonne by 2030. Agriculture producer groups and politicians opposed to the federal carbon taxation policy... Read More
The Government of Ontario released its provincial budget Wednesday, with a big spend on internet and broadband expansion for the province, including rural areas. The announcement of $2.8 billion for expanded broadband will bring the total that Ontario has committed to broadband expansion over $4 billion, with a commitment to connect the entire province by... Read More
After what feels like a never-ending game of extra innings baseball, the standoff between the Prairie provinces and the federal government over changes to AgriStability needs to end. All stakeholders are exhausted from the timeline-stretching, blown deadlines, fake outrage, and pure avoidance to find a solution to a rather simple issue. At different times it... Read More
Much of the oxygen surrounding agriculture in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement has been used on dairy, but expect wheat to gain increased attention in the coming weeks if some U.S. farm groups get their way. Newly reappointed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has mentioned USMCA enforcement and wheat several times in recent speeches, and... Read More