Putting Monsanto out of its misery could shift future debates about genetically modified crops to arguments based on fact rather than emotion. Agricultural chemical and seed technology giant Monsanto is arguably the most detested company in the world. But Bayer’s acquisition of St. Louis-based Monsanto will likely mean the latter (or at least its brand) […] Read more
Stories by Sylvain Charlebois
China may wane as meat export market
China is one of the world’s largest meat consumers. It currently consumes 28 percent of the globe’s meat, including half of its pork. While the average Chinese consumer used to eat about 13 kilograms years ago, meat consumption is now up to 63 kilograms per person. These are staggering numbers, and if nothing changes, they […] Read more
Canada’s food costs not hard to swallow
Food unites us all and Canada is certainly not immune to global pressures affecting food systems. Food price hikes these days have no borders, or so it seems. Prices have gone up in Canada, but also in other countries. While summer is a great time to get reacquainted with our BBQ, it’s also a time […] Read more
Consumers explore beef alternatives
North American consumers are starting to notice price in-creases at the meat counter. Meat prices in the United States jumped 8.4 percent in April from the previous year, while meat prices in Canada are likely to go up by five to six percent this year. Given that meat prices barely rose over the previous two […] Read more
Canada’s global trade awakening begins
Two new trade deals have given Canadian agriculture a much-needed lift in recent months. The new potential openings in the Europe Union and South Korea are timely, coming in the wake of the behemoth $1 trillion U.S. farm bill that clearly undermines the Canadian livestock industry with its protectionist country-of-origin labelling rules. Canada’s true global […] Read more
The new U.S. farm bill is so unCOOL
The new American farm bill contains significant bad news for Canada. Signed by president Barack Obama a few weeks ago, this $956 billion deal will increasingly isolate America from the global agrifood market, and the once strongly integrated North American agricultural economy will become progressively less fluid. Frankly speaking, this strategy appears to suggest that […] Read more
CFIA should release food test results
The organic movement was served a toxic dish recently when the media disclosed that a Canadian Food In-spection Agency study suggests organic food contains pesticide residues. The report claimed that half of a sample of organic products randomly tested had traces of pesticides. To explain why results were not disseminated when the study was completed […] Read more
Consumers need info to reduce food waste
Increasing concerns about food waste in the West recently led a former top executive in the food retail business to develop a business model in which food waste is reduced upstream from consumers. His concept, The Daily Table, is proposed as a chain of hybrid grocery store-restaurants cooking on-site with expired food products and then […] Read more
XL recall had positive effect on food safety
Food safety crises often lead to better things. The XL Foods recall, the largest in Canadian history, happened just over a year ago, and has arguably had a positive impact on industry and regulations alike. The latest Gort’s Gouda Cheese Farm recall involving raw milk cheeses will likely not be an exception either. In that […] Read more
BSE and the legacy of a national crisis
Most would agree that the discovery of BSE in Canada in May 2003 wasn’t really a food safety crisis, at least in this country. In retrospect, it was primarily a trade crisis. As domestic demand for beef shattered records in Canada that year, 35 countries, including the United States and Japan, overnight issued an embargo […] Read more
