Black swan events have transformed agriculture. From the invention of canola to precision agriculture and the emergence of the African Swine Fever (ASF), these extreme and unpredictable events — both good and bad — continue to shape the industry's future. Is Canadian agriculture and the agri-food system resilient enough to absorb the potential negative impacts... Read More
Category: Trade
While pulse market challenges haven't been grabbing headlines as much lately, there are longer standing issues with chickpea, pea, and lentil movement than say, canola's recent run-in with China. Murad Al-Katib, CEO of AGT Foods, says that there are reasons to be optimistic on pulse markets heading in to 2020, even in the face of... Read More
In just a few days, Ontario's corn harvest ground to a halt. Not because of Mother Nature's wrath this time, but because of an abrupt end of the supply of propane that fuels dryers to dry the corn to a safe level. Barry Senft, CEO of Grain Farmers of Ontario, says that the rail strike... Read More
When Chrystia Freeland, then International Trade minister, was thrust into the NAFTA renegotiation with the Trump administration, she probably thought that would be the greatest challenge of her political career. Little did she know that there was a greater challenge awaiting her back home in Canada just a few years later — that challenge is... Read More
Less than 24 hours back in the seat of Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister, Marie-Claude Bibeau is starting off with bang. Bibeau took to Twitter to announce letters will be sent out today to all eligible Canadian dairy producers. The letter will outline the process for producers to access their compensation which is being administered by... Read More
It's entirely possible that the United States Congress could ratify the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement (USMCA/CUSMA) before Christmas, says Jim Wiesemeyer, Washington analyst for ProFarmer, as the votes are there — but will they? There is still work to be done in Congress ahead of the holidays, Wiesemeyer says, including passing a spending bill, so ratification before... Read More
This week, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture elected Keith Currie to a fourth term as leader of the general farm organization. Currie has a reputation for building relationships inside and outside the organization and helping change the culture of the farm lobby group. But there's more work to do. In this interview with RealAgriculture's Bernard... Read More
The Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef held its general assembly at Christchurch, New Zealand, last week. As chair of the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, Anne Wasko was there and shares her insight and experience below: As the current chair of Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB), I was pleased to represent CRSB at the... Read More
During the first week of November, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that Canadian pork and beef exports to China will resume — a good news story for many, including Canadian Pork Council chair, Rick Bergmann. "It's the best news that we could ever get, because China is our third largest market," says Bergmann. "They're going... Read More
The rising protectionist agenda across the world has made agricultural trade difficult between once-friendly trading partners. Farmers in Canada and the U.S. have felt the impacts of strained exports, but how their governments have recognized these challenges is different. Although both countries have faced financial challenges on the farm, U.S. producers across a broad spectrum... Read More