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
Category: News
Dairy Quality Inc. and its mobile milk testing device was the big winner at Ontario's 10th annual Premier's Awards for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence. Premier Kathleen Wynne presented the Premier’s award – the province’s highest honour for outstanding contributions in innovation to the agri-food sector – to the Newmarket-based company. Its mobile testing device helps dairy... 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
Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay announced changes to Farm Credit Canada's Young Farmer Loan program in Ottawa on Wednesday. FCC will double the amount of credit available to individual farmers under the age of 40 — raising the maximum to $1 million from $500,000, said the minister. The ag lender will also lower the minimum down-payment... Read More
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has proposed changes to the rules for the transportation of animals. Discussions about changes to the transport regulations, most of which have been in place since 1977, have been ongoing for a number of years. The draft amendments were finally published in Canada Gazette on December 3 (read the entire... Read More
First generation market garden farmers from New Brunswick and third generation dairy and field crop farmers from Quebec have been named Canada's Outstanding Young Farmers for 2016. Dominic Drapeau & Celia Neault of Ste-Francoise-de-Lotbinière, QC and Andrew & Jennifer Lovell of Keswick Ridge, NB were selected at the national OYF event held in Niagara Falls,... Read More
ADM has sold its stake in GrainCorp — the Australian parent company of Canada Malting and new Canadian joint venture GrainsConnect. The deal sees ADM sell its 19.9 percent ownership in Australia's largest grain company to Swiss underwriters UBS for A$387 million (approximately C$380 million). “This transaction will allow us to further reduce our invested... Read More
A farmer from Gray, Saskatchewan, has been elected president of the province's general farm group. Todd Lewis was chosen to lead the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan at the organization's annual general meeting in Regina this week. He replaces Norm Hall of Wynyard, who stepped down after five years as president. Hall and Ian Boxall... Read More
$16.7 million has been set aside for an AgriRecovery program to help cattle producers in Alberta affected by the bovine TB quarantine. While Alberta's Treasury Board has yet to approve the funding, federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay announced the dollar figure in the House of Commons on Wednesday. The "2016 Bovine Tuberculosis Assistance Initiative" will... Read More
A group of farmers in southeast Saskatchewan is looking to fellow producers for support in building a $50-to-$75 million farmer-owned grain and commodity handling facility. Comtrax Logistics Solutions is planning a 260-plus car track system with grain handling and storage capacity for around 60,000 tonnes. The facility, which would likely be located in the Weyburn... Read More