Representatives from across Canada's grain sector are in Ottawa today for the launch of the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Crops. The group will serve as a forum for "advancing, reporting on and communicating the sustainability of Canadian grain production." "Increasingly, our customers are factoring in environmental and social considerations when sourcing products," said Chantelle Donahue,... Read More
Category: Eastern Canada
Yesterday, the Ontario premier's office and the ministry of the environment and climate change revealed its plan to restrict the use of neonicotinoid seed treatments. The goal, referred to as "aspirational," is to reduce the number of Ontario corn and soybean acres planted with the seed treatment by 80% by the year 2017. The details... Read More
Need an excuse to take a trip to a warmer place this winter? Can it be justified as a field trip for the farm? Cold temperatures might be a good enough reason to head south, and maybe it’s easy for him to say because he’s newly retired, but the former CEO of the Canadian International... Read More
The Ontario Federation of Agriculture held its annual general meeting in Niagara, November 24 and 25th, 2014, where delegates from across the provinces voted in a new president and vice president. Former vice president, Don McCabe, got the all-clear to move up to the role of president, preventing Mark Wales from a fourth and final... Read More
The Ministries of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Environment and Climate Change announced today plans aimed at reducing by 80% the number of acres planted to corn and soybeans using neonicotinoid-treated seed by 2017, a level of reduction that equates to a de-facto ban, according to farm groups. The province says it will consult... Read More
By Larry Martin and Derek Albrecht After months of steady decline, Chicago grain futures recently rallied to meet or exceed USDA forecasts in its November grain report. USDA forecast carryover of soybeans at the end of the 2014/15 crop year at 12.5 per cent of use, with a price forecast at around $10. This compares... Read More
Is your farm in the realty business? Equity on most Canadian farms is generated in two ways — selling the proceeds from production and by owning property with increasing value. Speaking at the Agricultural Excellence Conference in Winnipeg last week, the head of Canada’s largest farmland investment company argued there are situations where farmers would... Read More
In 2011, a new provincial cost-shared Risk Management Program (RMP) was created for the Ontario agriculture industry. Farmer leaders across commodity groups came together as the Ontario Agricultural Sustainability Coalition (OASC), and worked with the provincial government to design a made-in-Ontario solution to help bring "predictability, stability and bankability to the farming sector." In the... Read More
Dairy Farmers of Canada has announced the appointment of Caroline Emond as the agency's new executive director. Emond is a lawyer and lobbyist with over 20 years of experience in political and trade files in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. She worked for DFC from 1998 to 2006 as Assistant Director, International Trade and as... Read More
This editorial is a joint effort of Cam Dahl, President of Cereals Canada, JoAnne Buth, CEO of the Canadian International Grains Institute and Elwin Hermanson, Chief Commissioner of the Canadian Grain Commission. There is a new Team Canada hitting the world stage. We have two primary goals: first, we aim to promote the qualities of... Read More