ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Canada’s provincial and territorial premiers agreed last week to accelerate work with Ottawa and the industry to develop the next generation of farm support programs “in order to put the industry on a more sustainable path.” As part of a statement after two days of talks at the Council of the […] Read more
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Premiers to quicken pace on ag work
Wheat board officials propose major overhaul
While the federal government gives every indication it’s proceeding full steam ahead with plans to implement a dual market for wheat and barley, the Canadian Wheat Board has proposed a major revamping and expansion of its role, including retaining the single desk. The board was set to release this week a 50-page report called Harvesting […] Read more
Man. criticized over leafy spurge control
The Manitoba government was slammed last week over the issue of leafy spurge, a noxious weed that continues to spread and strangle pastures, hay fields and wildlife areas in the province. During the annual provincial grazing tour, a visit was made to a research plot east of Brandon where methods for controlling the weed were […] Read more
Ottawa’s stance unclear on wheat board guarantees
The decision by a previous Liberal government to end government guarantees for Canadian Wheat Board initial payments and export credit sales is in limbo as the Conservative government decides what to do with the CWB, says agriculture minister Chuck Strahl. The Liberals promised to end the financial backstopping in response to a World Trade Organization […] Read more
Strahl seeks CWB input
Federal agriculture minister Chuck Strahl wants the Canadian Wheat Board to help plan what some say would be its own demise. But the head of the CWB says the agency would be reluctant to assist government in stripping the agency of its single desk marketing powers. Strahl said last week the government is determined to […] Read more
Farmers question carbon trading plan
Farmers thinking about selling their carbon credits for 2003-06 through a Regina company needn’t worry about what they can do in 2007 and beyond. A legal opinion prepared for the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association says contracts offered by C-Green Aggregators Ltd. don’t commit the farmer to anything beyond that four-year time frame. The legal opinion […] Read more
U.S. cattle import rules delayed
New regulations that would have allowed older Canadian cattle to travel to the United States are on hold pending the investigation of the latest BSE case found in a 50-month-old cow from Alberta. “The rule is not being done away with. We are just holding it until we get the results of the investigation,” said […] Read more
N.D. farmers keep tariff money
American wheat growers are being allowed to keep more than $120,000 in tariffs that were unjustifiably collected on Canadian wheat imports between 2003 and 2006. The United States Court of International Trade decided July 14 that the North Dakota Wheat Commission could keep the money collected from companies importing hard red wheat from Canada during […] Read more
Sask. commits to CAIS
The Saskatchewan government has announced it will fully fund the 2006 CAIS program, several months earlier than originally planned. In the spring budget, the government said it would decide by the third quarter financial results how much it could spend on the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program other than the base $100 million it had […] Read more
Biodiesel latest example of Sask. myth: author
It was the kind of unbridled optimism about Saskatchewan’s potential for growth and development that makes author and senior federal bureaucrat Dale Eisler smile in wonder. He has heard it all before. The author of the book False Expectations: Politics and the Pursuit of the Saskatchewan Myth argues that since its settlement and creation as […] Read more
