Latest Newsletter

(Image courtesy Farmers Edge)
Crops, Machinery

Self-checking field health mapping system launched

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The farmer’s job of poring over satellite field maps looking for disease, weed and insect trouble is about to go automatic. Winnipeg-based digital ag consulting firm Farmers Edge recently released Health Change Maps and Notifications, a new function that automatically scans the company’s daily satellite imagery and alerts growers of any changes in field health […] Read more
(Staff photo)
Markets

La Coop federee to rebrand agribusiness arm

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Crop and livestock producers dealing with the agribusiness division of Quebec’s La Coop federee can expect to see a new name in the game early next year. La Coop announced Sept. 25 it will change the name of the division — which today operates under the Elite and La Coop brand names — to Sollio […] Read more
A small marijuana plant grows in a lab at the new Commercial Cannabis Production Program at Niagara College in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, October 9, 2018. Photo: Reuters/Carlos Osorio/File

U.S. pot firm Curaleaf to triple planned equity offering

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Toronto | Reuters – U.S. cannabis retailer Curaleaf Holdings Inc is raising about $400 million, almost three times its original target, in Toronto, in a deal that would value the company at close to $4 billion, people familiar with the situation told Reuters. The move by the Wakefield, Massachusetts-based company, which also owns cannabis cultivation […] Read more
Andre Lamontagne, shown here at left at a press conference in May 2017 with CAQ leader Francois Legault, is Quebec’s new agriculture minister. (Video screengrab from AssNat.qc.ca)

CAQ taps businessman as Quebec’s new ag minister

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Quebec’s new governing party has turned to one of its more experienced MNAs to handle the farm file. Premier Francois Legault on Thursday named Andre Lamontagne, a businessman and former supermarket owner and the MNA for the southwestern riding of Johnson, as his minister of agriculture, fisheries and food, and as minister responsible for the […] Read more
A hemp plant in Alberta. (Jennifer Blair photo)
Crops

Cannabis’ cousin hemp entering new age too

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CNS Canada — As cannabis basks in the glow of the first day of its legalized recreational sale, its close cousin hemp is coming through its own year of change. Ted Haney, executive director of the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance, said hemp growers are going through a year in which they are learning how to […] Read more
The Calgary Telus Convention Centre, north building. (Calgary-convention.com)
Crops, Machinery, Markets

Farm Forum Event under new management

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The company behind Canada’s two biggest outdoor farm shows is expanding to the great indoors as the new operator of another well known Canadian farm industry event. Glacier FarmMedia announced Monday it has acquired and will assume management of the Farm Forum Event, an annual professional development event for farmers, starting with its 20th anniversary […] Read more
(Aphria.ca)
Crops

Altria reported seeking stake in cannabis firm Aphria

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Reuters — Marlboro maker Altria Group is in talks for a stake in Canadian cannabis producer Aphria Inc., the Globe and Mail reported on Wednesday, citing multiple sources. The details of Richmond, Virginia-based Altria’s investment are still being finalized, though it has expressed interest in buying a minority stake in Aphria with the intention of […] Read more
(UrosPoteko/iStock/Getty Images)
Crops

Regulator finds cannabis company disclosures inadequate

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Toronto | Reuters — A Canadian regulatory group said on Wednesday that it had found that the level and quality of disclosure by cannabis companies was insufficient. The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), which conducted a review of disclosure practices of 70 Canadian and U.S. cannabis producers, said some companies were inconsistent in complying with Canadian […] Read more
Plaintiff Dewayne Johnson listens as attorney Brent Wisner, not shown, speaks about his condition at trial in San Francisco on July 9, 2018. (File photo: Josh Edelson/Pool via Reuters)
Crops

Bayer likely to get new trial in glyphosate case

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San Francisco | Reuters — Bayer’s Monsanto unit was likely to get a new trial on the US$250 million in punitive damages awarded by a jury to a groundskeeper who alleged the company’s glyphosate-based herbicides, including Roundup, caused his cancer. According to a Wednesday court filing in San Francisco’s Superior Court of California, Judge Suzanne […] Read more

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