Farmers in Alberta will see a significant reduction in their crop insurance premiums for the 2021 growing season. Announced January 25 by the Alberta government and the Agricultural Financial Services Corporation (AFSC), a 20 per cent reduction will save farmers more than $55 million on their crop insurance premiums this year. Minister of Alberta Agriculture... Read More

After a year of building, prototyping, and delivering services to select customers and partners, the Omics and Precision Agricultural Laboratory (OPAL) has been launched by the Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S). OPAL was founded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the National Research Council of Canada, and... Read More

The Manitoba Pork Council has announced the hiring of a new general manager. Cam Dahl, currently the chief strategy officer for Cereals Canada, will be joining the provincial pork organization as of February 22, 2021. Dahl served as the founding CEO of Cereals Canada for several years prior to its merger with the Canadian International... Read More

The federal government has announced $162.6 million in additional funding for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) over the next five years, and $40 million per year in added funding for the agency on an ongoing basis after that. The funding boost, announced by Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, and Health Minister Patty Hajdu on Friday,... Read More

Protein Industries Canada (PIC) announced an investment Friday into a program that will introduce youth in Kindergarten through Grade 12 to the career opportunities available to them in the plant-protein, agri-food, and digital agriculture sectors. As part of a $2 million co-investment with the Enterprise Machine Intelligence & Learning Initiative (EMILI), national STEM outreach charity... Read More

As of this week, the Ontario government is expanding its workplace safety COVID-19-compliance blitz to more businesses, including farms. The campaign began last week focused on big-box retail stores. More than 300 provincial officers will now be focusing on retail, restaurants providing take-out, gas stations, and farms, among other essential businesses. Officers will enter businesses... Read More

Pentair Hypro, manufacturer of irrigation pumps, sprayer pumps, and sprayer nozzles, has released its most drift-reducing nozzle to date. The Ultra Lo-Drift Max nozzle provides up to 95 per cent drift reduction, compared to the company's flat fan 03 nozzle, Pentair says. A FastCap version utilizes SnapLock cap technology, which reduces the installation torque requirement... Read More

John Deere's newest combine received high praise from the innovation award judges at the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show last week. Normally held in Las Vegas in early January, this year's version of CES was held virtually. The X Series combine received the top award — the "Best of Innovation" seal — in the robotics category,... Read More