Two Conservative MPs from the Prairies were promoted Sept. 19 when prime minister Stephen Harper announced parliamentary secretaries for the next session of Parliament beginning Oct. 16. David Anderson, a southwestern Saskatchewan farmer, becomes parliamentary secretary to foreign affairs minister John Baird. James Bezan, a Manitoba cattle producer and former chair of the Commons defence […] Read more
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Conservative MPs take new roles
Australia’s CBH Group opens North American office
Grain trade Australia’s largest exporter will blend North American and Australian wheat to be used by Asian millers
Australia’s largest grain growers’ co-operative has opened a North American office to source American and Canadian grain. CBH Group based in Western Australia announced last week that it has opened an office in Portland, Oregon. Wheat sourced in Canada and the United States will be blended with Australian wheat and used by Asian millers to […] Read moreConAgra warns on profit as frozen food, pasta sales decline
(Reuters) — ConAgra Foods Inc. expects its current quarter profit to be well below estimates, hurt by a drop in sales of brands such as Marie Callender’s frozen meals and Chef Boyardee pasta. The company’s products compete in highly competitive categories that are dominated by larger players such as Heinz and Kraft Foods Group Inc. […] Read more
Ottawa gives dairy research $12 million
Agriculture Canada has an-nounced a $12 million, five-year investment in dairy research that will be supplemented by a $6 million investment from Dairy Farmers of Canada. MP Pierre Lemieux, parliamentary secretary to agriculture minister Gerry Ritz, announced the federal funding Sept. 16 in eastern Ontario. The government announcement said the money will fund projects in […] Read more
Russia prepares to buy its own grain to boost stocks
MOSCOW (Reuters) — Russia, one of the world’s top wheat exporters, is preparing to buy grain on the domestic market in line with its restocking campaign, an agricultural ministry representative said Sept. 20. The move signalled increased competition with exporters. Russia is looking to rebuild depleted stocks after last year’s drought slashed its wheat crop […] Read more
Weekly U.S. wheat exports the highest since 1990
Wheat buyers | Increased demand from China and Brazil unlikely to last
(Reuters) — U.S. exporters loaded and shipped more wheat to global buyers in mid-September than it has in at least the past 23 years. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said most of the grain headed for China and Brazil. Exporters shipped 1.204 million tonnes of U.S. wheat in the week ended Sept. 12, including 406,700 […] Read moreWasted food a major carbon emitter: UN
ROME, Italy (Reuters) — The food the world wastes accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than any country except China and the United States, says a new United Nations report. One-third of all food for human consumption, around 1.3 billion tonnes, is wasted every year, but that doesn’t account for all the energy, water and […] Read more
Australian researchers turn wheat breeding upside down
Low protein cultivars for baking Researchers believe new experimental lines will allow for big yield gains
CALGARY — Australian researchers are using genomics to eliminate the need to produce high protein wheat and to increase the crop’s yields by as much as 50 percent. Robert Henry, director of the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, expects the research to result in new varieties that will be commercialized within the next […] Read moreResearch funding comparisons not valid, says Ag Canada
Despite critics who argue government research funding levels have fallen from historic levels, Agriculture Canada’s top research official says attempts to compare departmental research spending levels then and now are futile. The lobby group Grain Growers of Canada and opposition critics have been complaining for years that federal basic research spending lags far behind comparable […] Read more
Foreign worker rule changes may hurt ag
Focus on local workers | Changes will mean more competition for labourers, increasing costs
The federal government’s decision to tighten rules governing use of temporary foreign workers in Canada will have a “very significant” impact on many farmers, says a new report. The government published new rules in late summer that will require employers who bring in foreign workers through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to pay higher fees […] Read more
