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Migrant workers clean fields in California’s Salinas Valley on March 30, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)
Crops

Canadian, U.S. farms face crop losses on foreign worker delays

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Winnipeg/Chicago | Reuters — Mandatory coronavirus quarantines of seasonal foreign workers in Canada could hurt that country’s fruit and vegetable output this year, and travel problems related to the pandemic could also leave U.S. farmers with fewer workers than usual. Foreign labour is critical to farm production in both countries, where domestic workers shun the […] Read more
(Strickke/E+/Getty Images)
Machinery

Federal carbon tax rises despite opposition, pandemic

Ottawa not backing away from scheduled increases

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Ottawa — The federal government has pushed ahead with an increase to the carbon tax despite continued calls from the agriculture sector for reprieve from the program. The price on carbon rose from $20 per tonne to $30 per tonne effective April 1. The federal Liberal government is standing firm on its commitment to increase […] Read more
A cargo ship is loaded with Brazilian soybeans bound for China. (Photo: Reuters/Paulo Whitaker)
Markets

Trade pacts, food policy on AAFC’s agenda for 2020-21

Department also plans to back collaborative research between farmers, scientists

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Improving international trade and introducing the new food policy highlight Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) plans for the next year. In its 2020-21 departmental plan, which sets priorities for the upcoming year, AAFC says it will “continue to assist the sector to take advantage of market opportunities and maintain or improve access to international markets, […] Read more
(Dave Bedard photo)
Markets

Canadian farmland trending less affordable in FCC report

Average values continue rising across board

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The average value of farmland in Canada is continuing to rise faster than farmers’ ability to generate revenue from it, Farm Credit Canada’s latest Farmland Values Report suggests. The report, released Monday, shows the average value of Canadian farmland rose 5.2 per cent in 2019 over 2018, the smallest year-over-year increase since 2010, and down […] Read more
Farmer Anil Salunkhe feeds strawberries to a cow during a 21-day nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the Satara district in India’s Maharashtra state on April 1, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Rajendra Jadhav)
Crops, Markets

How COVID-19 is upending global food supply chains

Cows fed strawberries in India, watermelons rot in U.S., okra not reaching Canada

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Satara/Singapore/London | Reuters — In the fertile Satara district in western India, farmers are putting their cattle on an unorthodox diet: Some feed iceberg lettuce to buffalo. Others feed strawberries to cows. It’s not a treat. They can either feed their crops to animals or let them spoil. And other farmers are doing just that […] Read more
(Dave Bedard photo)
Crops

Saskatchewan crop insurance deadline pushed to mid-April

Governments offer farmers 'flexibility'

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The month-end deadline for Saskatchewan farmers to finalize contracts with the provincial Crown crop insurance agency for 2020 has been moved to April 13. Provincial Agriculture Minister David Marit and federal Ag Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Monday announced the extension on farmers’ deadline to “apply, reinstate, cancel or make changes” to crop insurance contracts. “We […] Read more
(PortOfHalifax.ca)
Markets

Ottawa expected to ‘officially’ declare ag an essential service

The Western Grain Elevator Association says that designation will clarify things and help to keep grain moving

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Canada’s grain industry expects the federal government will soon officially declare agriculture an essential service. Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA), says that designation will have a practical application. “Hopefully it ends all confusion about grain workers at elevators, railway workers and anybody else required for moving grain, as to […] Read more
(Kriste Sorokaite/iStock/Getty Images)
Livestock

Pet food investment firm buys Ontario raw food maker

Tollden Farms to join United Raw Pet Foods

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A Toronto-area investment firm billed as “the pet industry’s merchant bank” has bought control of its fifth Canadian maker of frozen raw pet foods in three years. Mississauga-based Dane Creek Capital Corp., the 70 per cent controlling shareholder in United Raw Pet Foods, announced Thursday that United Raw has bought Tollden Farms of Kemptville, Ont. […] Read more
CFA president Mary Robinson at the organization’s AGM in Ottawa in February 2020. (CFA-fca.ca)

CFA seeks immediate cash for farmers

Farm and industry leaders say more needed beyond measures already announced

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The Canadian Federation of Agriculture wants the federal government to provide immediate stimulus to farmers through business risk management (BRM) programs as part of its ongoing response to COVID-19. At a recent board meeting, the organization representing about 200,000 farmers across Canada passed motions calling for increased funding to the AgriInvest BRM program — and […] Read more
(Canada Border Services Agency video screengrab)
Machinery, Markets

Cross-border truckers exempt from mandatory isolation

TFWs coming to Canada won't be exempt from new rule

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Truckers and others who are still allowed to cross into Canada on essential business are exempt from a new two-week self-isolation rule for people arriving in the country. Health Minister Patty Hajdu on Wednesday announced an emergency order under the federal Quarantine Act, requiring anyone who’s entering Canada by land, air or sea to self-isolate […] Read more

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