Canadian federal agriculture minister Marie Claude-Bibeau sits at a table with other G7 ag ministers at a meeting in Japan recently.

G7 ministers talk food security

Canadian agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said the food supply chain, sustainable agriculture, innovation and open trade were all on the agenda.


Dairy cattle stick their heads through a fence in a dairy barn.

Supply management bill divides MPs as vote looms

The Conservative shadow minister for agriculture says differing messages coming out of two standing committees last week do not show division within the party over supply management. The agriculture committee issued its report following its study of global food security, which included a recommendation to protect the supply management system. At the international trade committee, […] Read more

The cargo ship Despina V, carries Ukrainian grain in the Black Sea off Kilyos near Istanbul, Turkey, last fall. World Trade Organization director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala recently said threats to global trade include continuation of the war in Ukraine and other geopolitical tensions.  |  Reuters/Umit Bektas photo

WTO urges countries to limit food export curbs

Organization predicts global trade slowdown and warns about food insecurity, inflation and tightened monetary policy

GENEVA, Switzerland (Reuters) — The World Trade Organization raised its forecast for global trade growth this year, but still predicted a slowdown and warned of risks from the Ukraine war, geopolitical tensions, food insecurity, inflation and monetary policy tightening. The Geneva-based trade body said on April 5 that merchandise trade volumes would increase by a […] Read more


One-quarter of food bank clients in Manitoba last year had jobs, a 50 percent increase from the previous year.  |  Getty Images

Inflation blamed for increasing food insecurity

Use at Saskatchewan’s 36 food banks climbed in 2022, largely because of the rising costs of food, fuel and housing

Inflation is forcing more full-time workers to food banks. Neil Hetherington, chief executive officer of the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto, said the organization in Canada’s largest city used to see 65,000 people each month. During the pandemic, that boomed to 120,000. “Today, we are now seeing 270,000 client visits per month,” he said […] Read more

The ground is cracked Jan. 7 near the Sidi El Barrak reservoir at Nafza, Tunisia. The country is in its third year of drought and its reservoirs are at 25 percent of capacity.  |  Reuters/Jihed Abidellaoui photo

‘Dangerous’ drought threatens food security in Tunisia

Wheat growers alarmed as rainfall plummets to one-fifth of normal and government limits water supply to some farms

SILIANA, Tunisia (Reuters) — Three years of drought have dried up Tunisian reservoirs, threatening harvests that are critical to the North African country’s battered economy and pushing the government to raise tap water prices for homes and businesses. Since September only 110 million cubic metres of rain have fallen in Tunisia, about a fifth of […] Read more


Canadian ag minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said the country is steadfast in its support of Ukraine and Ukrainians. | Screencap via Twitter/@mclaudebibeau

G20 ag ministers support Ukraine

Agriculture ministers from G20 countries meeting in Bali, Indonesia, in late September repeated their condemnation of the war in Ukraine and its effects on food security. Canadian minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said the country is steadfast in its support of Ukraine and Ukrainians. “Canada joined other G20 members in our condemnation of Russia’s brutal invasion of […] Read more

In testimony to the House of Commons finance committee last week, the head of the Agri-Food Analytics Laboratory at Dalhousie University said food inflation in Canada is running about 10 percent but at least the country is unlikely to face the shortages that other regions will see. | File photo

Global food security warning issued

Canadians are complaining about escalating food costs but seem unaware the world is heading for a food security crisis, said food distribution expert Sylvain Charlebois. In testimony to the House of Commons finance committee last week, the head of the Agri-Food Analytics Laboratory at Dalhousie University said food inflation in Canada is running about 10 […] Read more

The author argues that the latest federal budget failed to put enough emphasis on increasing agricultural production.  |  File photo

Ag requires more than emission cuts

Even before Russia invaded Ukraine, the global food supply was under strain. Climate change, supply chain disruption and increasing demand were all driving up food prices. Then the invasion made a bad situation much worse. Therefore, the need for the food system to deliver on its full food security, economic and environmental outcomes may never […] Read more


Ted Bilyea, distinguished policy fellow at the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, said the war is exacerbating existing issues.
 | Reuters/Alexander Ermochenko photo

Food security grabs world’s attention

Global food security is at risk from the war in Ukraine because the food system was already in trouble, said a panel discussing the Russian invasion. Ted Bilyea, distinguished policy fellow at the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, said the war is exacerbating existing issues. Before the invasion, global food prices in the United Nation’s Food […] Read more

The ministers said they are concerned about the impacts on food security and an increasing number of people suffering from hunger and malnutrition caused by the aggression. | Twitter/@Foodgrains/ADRA Ukraine photo

G7 ag ministers condemn invasion of Ukraine

The G7 agriculture ministers, along with the agriculture commissioner for the European Union, the Ukrainian minister and several international food and agricultural organizations, today condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “We are all appalled by and condemn the large-scale aggression by the Russian Federation against the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, enabled by […] Read more