WINNIPEG — The federal government has done its homework. Following his first election as president in 2016, Donald Trump demanded that Canada and Mexico renegotiate the NAFTA free trade deal. Since then, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has assembled a boatload of data explaining why free trade is beneficial for farmers and the agri-food industry on […] Read more
Robert Arnason
Stories by Robert Arnason
Enough with the ‘self-flagellation’
WINNIPEG — Sustainable agriculture is important, but federal priorities for agricultural research are out of balance, says the agriculture critic for the Conservative Party of Canada. If the Tories take power following the next election, they will take steps to restore the balance between production and environmental goals in agriculture research. “We’re not going to […] Read more
Index calculates wetlands value for agriculture
The main outcome from COP29 was loose commitments to spend more on mitigating the effects of climate change
WINNIPEG — Food and agriculture were the main themes at the 2023 edition of the United Nations climate change conference, the Conference of the Parties. COP28 in Dubai was dubbed the Food COP because of that focus on agriculture. Other organizations said food was finally on the table in climate discussions. Food production was also […] Read more
Firm goes ‘behind the scenes’
WINNIPEG — Not long ago, Farmers Edge had ambitions of selling its precision agriculture services to thousands of farmers on tens of millions of acres around the globe. The digital agriculture company was expanding into Ukraine, Russia, South America, the United States and other markets from its home base in Western Canada. However, sometime in […] Read more
More cash for canola meal
WINNIPEG — Canola meal is sold into the animal feed market at discounted prices but a University of Saskatchewan engineering professor hopes to change those economics by extracting key nutrients from the meal that can be used in fermentation and food processing. Bishnu Acharya, Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture chair in bioprocess engineering, is being honoured […] Read more
There’s a new buyer for Canadian agri-food
WINNIPEG — Canadian farmers and agri-food exporters will soon have more access to a market with 279 million people. On Nov. 16, the governments of Canada and Indonesia announced they had agreed to a trade deal to be known as the Canada-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. The document has not been published, but the partnership […] Read more
Do queen bees cause climate change?
Like most Canadians, I’m familiar with the fable of the boy who cried wolf. As everyone knows, shouting “wolf” at every opportunity didn’t end well for that boy. Something similar could be happening in the world of agricultural research. News releases about research projects in Canada often include a sentence or paragraph about how the […] Read more
Can Singapore be a plant protein partner?
Southeast Asia is an important growth market and could become a processing hub for Canadian food ingredients
WINNIPEG — Canada may need a partner in southeast Asia to tap into booming demand for food, ingredients and protein in that region. Singapore is one option, says the head of Protein Industries Canada. A delegation from Singapore visited Canada this summer and met with Protein Industries Canada, a group trying to make this country […] Read more
Disagreement continues over this year’s canola production
Provincial agriculture ministry estimates are lower than Statistics Canada’s numbers, and analysts weigh in on who’s right
WINNIPEG — The size of the 2024 canola crop has become a controversial topic in Western Canada. Most market analysts believe it’s much smaller than the 38 bushel per acre average and 19 million tonne estimate, which Statistics Canada published in September. In late October, Saskatchewan Agriculture pegged the provincial canola yield at 33 bu. […] Read more
Blackleg was brutal this year
WINNIPEG — The wet spring on the Prairies provided nearly “perfect” conditions for blackleg to develop in canola crops. That’s why 2024 will likely become the worst year on record for the disease in Saskatchewan. “Ninety-two percent of crops we surveyed in Saskatchewan in 2024 had at least trace levels of blackleg,” said Alireza Akhavan, […] Read more
