Latest Newsletter

(File photo)
Machinery

Ag journal Small Farm Canada under new ownership

Victoria-based publishers retiring

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Online ag information company Farms.com has picked up farm journal Small Farm Canada and its sister publication for the mobile heavy-duty repair sector, Service Truck. Farms.com, which operates out of offices at Guelph, Ont. and Ames, Iowa, announced Thursday it has bought the two titles from Victoria-based Southern Tip Publishing, whose partnership group is retiring […] Read more
Southwestern Ontario MP Lianne Rood will be the federal Conservatives’ new agriculture critic. (Video screengrab from LianneRood.ca)
Crops

Conservatives look to southern Ontario for new ag critic

O'Toole promotes deputy critic Lianne Rood to first chair

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The federal Conservatives’ new leader has gone to the other side of Toronto to find his new critic for agriculture and agri-food. Lianne Rood, the rookie MP for the riding of Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, was named Tuesday by fellow southern Ontario MP Erin O’Toole to replace southwestern Alberta MP John Barlow as the Conservatives’ shadow minister for […] Read more
(Jack Dykinga photo courtesy ARS/USDA)
Crops

Seed groups weigh options as CSGA rejects merger

Grower group's membership calls nay on Seeds Canada amalgamation

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The boards of five national seed sector groups planning a major merger are considering their next move after a less-than-unanimous vote on the proposal. Members of the Canadian Plant Technology Agency (CPTA), Commercial Seed Analysts Association of Canada (CSAAC), Canadian Seed Growers’ Association (CSGA), Canadian Seed Institute (CSI) and Canadian Seed Trade Association (CSTA) had […] Read more
File photo of the Confederation Building, home to Newfoundland and Labrador’s House of Assembly, in St. John’s. (Benkrut/iStock/Getty Images)

Newfoundland to revamp ag oversight in shuffle

MHA Elvis Loveless to handle ag and fisheries files

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Newfoundland and Labrador’s new premier plans a “realignment” for several of the provincial government’s departments — including a slightly different home and a new minister for the agriculture file. Dr. Andrew Furey, who was sworn in Wednesday to replace Dwight Ball as premier, announced a new cabinet the same day for the province’s Liberal minority […] Read more
Officials at the Aug. 13, 2020 rollout of the federal surplus food program included (l-r) Julie Marchand of Food Banks of Quebec, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, Claude Dulude of Nutri Group, Marie-Jose Mastromonaco of Second Harvest, Tania Little of Food Banks Canada and Serge Lefebvre of Nutri Group. (Photo courtesy Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)
Livestock, Markets

Feds line up projects for surplus food program

NGOs backed to gather, distribute 12 million kg of food

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The federal government has lined up eight projects to source and distribute perishable produce, meat, eggs and seafood piling up across Canada due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the federal pandemic response, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in early May that Ottawa would budget $50 million for a food surplus purchase program. The […] Read more
Conditions reported to AAFC’s Canadian Drought Monitor as of July 31, 2020. (Agr.gc.ca)
Crops

Most of Prairies to see little rain

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MarketsFarm — Warm and dry weather that has generated little precipitation across the Prairies is expected to continue in most areas, aside from southern Manitoba, according to two meteorologists. “Looks like the overall pattern isn’t going to be changing too much,” Scott Kehler of Weatherlogics said. “What you see is what you’re going to get,” […] Read more
A spray plane flies over a swarm of desert locusts at Lemasulani village in Kenya’s Samburu County on Jan. 17, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Njeri Mwangi)
Crops

Locust swarming pheromone identified in step toward curbing plagues

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Washington | Reuters — Scientists have identified a chemical compound released by locusts that causes them to swarm, opening the door to possible new ways to prevent these insects from devouring crops vital to human sustenance as they have for millennia. Researchers said on Wednesday they identified the pheromone — that is, a chemical produced […] Read more
(File photo by Dave Bedard)
Crops, Markets

Nutrien cuts profit forecast on weak ammonia prices

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Reuters — Canadian fertilizer maker Nutrien on Monday cut its annual adjusted profit forecast as weaker-than-normal industrial demand held back prices for ammonia and urea ammonium nitrate. The company cut the top end of its 2020 adjusted earnings per share forecast to $1.90 from $2.10 earlier, while retaining the lower end at $1.50. Even as […] Read more
A botanist with APHIS’ National Identification Services (NIS) examines the contents of an unsolicited package of seeds under a microscope on July 30, 2020. (Photo courtesy USDA/APHIS)
Crops

Unasked-for seed packets considered ‘low-risk’

But don't plant, flush or compost them, CFIA warns

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Federal inspectors say the unsolicited packages of seeds that have recently turned up in mailboxes across the country so far look to be “low-risk” — but still advise the public not to plant them. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) have both reported […] Read more
Alberta greenhouse grower Whole Leaf is booked to provide lettuce for U.S. burger chain Wendy’s restaurants across Canada. (CNW Group/Wendy’s Restaurants of Canada)
Crops

Wendy’s secures Canadian greenhouse lettuce supply

Alberta grower to provide sandwich, salad lettuce nationwide

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The Canadian wing of U.S. burger chain Wendy’s is going strictly indoors, in southern Alberta, to supply all the lettuce for its salad, burger and chicken sandwich offerings across the country. Whole Leaf, based outside Coaldale, about 20 km east of Lethbridge, was announced last week as the lettuce supplier for the chain’s 384 stores […] Read more

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