Federal Minister of Agriculture Marie Claude Bibeau reaffirmed a pledge to compensate supply-managed industries for trade deals during a Nov. 26 committee appearance. The federal government offered its first installment of a $1.75 billion payout to dairy producers to cover market losses from negotiations of two trade deals last year. Bibeau said the federal government […] Read more
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India eyes red lentil self-sufficiency
Canada could lose its top red lentil market next crop year, according to a senior Indian government official. Sunil Kumar Singh, additional managing director of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED), is forecasting that the country will be self-sufficient in red lentil production as soon as 2021-22. NAFED is a government organization […] Read more
‘Heat highway’: opportunity or danger?
Alberta needs to do more to protect farmers under proposed provincial legislation that aims to clarify the rules for the development of geothermal energy, says a surface rights advocate. “We’ve told the government we’re very concerned about this new geothermal bill because it strips all the protection of oil and gas away from these (geothermal) […] Read more
Permanent deal with Britain urged
Canada’s transitional trade deal with the United Kingdom will offer agri-food exporters some stability, but concerns over non-tariff barriers persist. On Nov. 21, Canada and the U.K. announced an interim deal, allowing the parties more runway to finalize a comprehensive trade agreement. “This trade continuity agreement between Canada and the United Kingdom assures we maintain […] Read more
Regional ag disaster approach requested
Thirteen rural municipalities in Alberta declared states of agriculture disaster this year but they didn’t trigger financial aid
Thirteen Alberta municipalities declared they were in a state of agricultural disaster this year due to excessive moisture that accumulated this year and the previous two years, hindering crop seeding, development and harvest. Precipitation in some areas was 150 percent of the long-term average in 2020 alone, and for some municipalities, this was the second […] Read more
Foodgrains bank ready to address threat of rising hunger
Organization had feared the pandemic might reduce the number of growing projects this year, but that didn’t happen
The global pandemic has increased the number of hungry people in the world and the Canadian Foodgrains Bank is preparing to meet the challenge of helping to feed them. Until 2014, there had been a 30-year decline in the number of hungry, but violent events in Yemen, South Sudan and Syria, among other countries, changed […] Read more
Concerns ease over pulled licence
Most farmers who delivered grain to Global Grain Canada have it back in their bins, according to the Canadian Grain Commission. The dry bean processing plant in Plum Coulee, Man., that recently lost its CGC licence has returned most of its inventory to eligible farmers who were in possession of primary elevator receipts. “That, in […] Read more
Distributor joins sustainable beef program
Gordon Food Service Canada Ltd. has added its name to those participating in the sustainable beef program through the Canadian Roundtable on Sustainable Beef. The Gordon Choice boxed beef program announced today that it would source a minimum 30 percent of its beef from CRSB Certified Sustainable farms and ranches. The CRSB is a multi-stakeholder […] Read more
Senator looks for soil study support
A Canadian senator wants your help. Senator Rob Black of Ontario has proposed that the Senate’s agriculture committee lead a comprehensive study on soil health. He is asking Canadians, especially those with an interest in soil, to send an email to the committee or members of the committee before it selects its priorities for the […] Read more
Grain code of practice expected by spring
Canadian farmers will soon have a new voluntary code of practice to follow that will help assure customers around the world that the crops they are consuming were produced in a sustainable manner. The Responsible Grain Code is an initiative of the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Crop headed by Ted Menzies, a former secretary of […] Read more
