Unionized mechanics and clerical workers at Canadian National Railway (CN) have voted their support for strike action which CN says will not affect operations. Ballots from members of Unifor Local 100 and Unifor Council 4000 went 98 and 97 per cent in support of strike action, in votes held over the past two weeks, Unifor […] Read more
CN’s mechanics vote in favour of strike action
Company says rail operations 'will continue'
Merit Foods stakeholder looking to buy company
Burcon 'actively engaged' with company's receiver
One of the joint-venture owners of Winnipeg pea and canola protein processor Merit Functional Foods says it’s in talks to buy full control of the cash-strapped company. Two days after Merit entered a court-ordered receivership, Vancouver-based Burcon NutraScience announced Friday it “intends to submit a formal proposal to acquire the business.” Burcon said Merit’s receivership […] Read more
Plant protein processor Merit Foods in receivership
Company owes $95 million to EDC, FCC
The company behind a new Prairie processing plant extracting plant-based proteins from peas and canola has landed in receivership, in the high eight figures’ debt to its secured lenders. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on Wednesday announced it’s the receiver for both Merit Functional Foods Corp. and the numbered company that owns Merit’s processing plant and property in […] Read more
Crop, livestock prices offset reduced marketings in 2022
StatCan data on farm cash receipts tracks recovery off 2021 drought
New full-year data on Canada’s farm cash receipts in calendar 2022 show how increased commodity prices last year more than offset the drop in quantities sold. Statistics Canada on Tuesday released figures showing Canadian farm cash receipts in 2022 at $94.9 billion, up 14.1 per cent from 2021, including crop receipts of $53.9 billion (also […] Read more
Nova Scotia to bridge Fiona funding gap for farmers
Provincial program offering up to $400K per farm
Nova Scotia farmers who didn’t qualify for federal disaster financial assistance (DFA) in the wake of Hurricane Fiona last September may be able to get in on a new provincial program instead. The province on Thursday announced $3 million for what it calls the Fiona Agriculture Response Gap Funding program, offering up to $400,000 for […] Read more
Sollio books deeper loss for 2022
Olymel's fresh pork business takes biggest hit
Domestic and international market-moving events have dragged hard on the year-end bottom line for Sollio Cooperative Group, particularly in its fresh pork business. Quebec-based Sollio — which operates the ag input and farm service business Sollio Agriculture, meat packer Olymel and hardware retailer BMR — on Thursday reported full-year revenues of $8.876 billion for its […] Read more
Lake Erie grain terminal sold to main tenant
Ceres sells export facility to London Ag Commodities
The former Robin Hood flour mill turned grain export terminal on the Ontario side of Lake Erie is under new ownership by its main user. Minneapolis-based Ceres Global Ag announced Wednesday it has sold the well-known terminal at Port Colborne, Ont., about 30 km west of Buffalo, N.Y., to London Agricultural Commodities (LAC) for US$4 […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Cattle, hog futures climb
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) cattle and hog futures came out of their U.S. Presidents Day break trading higher, with front-month live cattle posting eight-year highs. CME February 2023 live cattle touched 164.975 cents/lb. in Tuesday’s trade before closing at 164.75 cents, up 1.175 cents from Friday’s close and the highest close for the front-month contract […] Read more
CN’s mechanics, clerical staff taking strike votes
Railway not expecting impact on operations
Canadian National Railway says it’s not expecting any impact on its operations if its unionized mechanics and clerical staff are involved in a work stoppage, depending on the outcome of strike votes starting this week. Unifor represents about 3,000 CN workers in mechanical, intermodal and clerical positions across the country through five collective agreements, all […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hogs, most live cattle lower
Feeder cattle futures also down
Chicago lean hog and cattle futures closed mainly lower Thursday with the exception of front-month February live cattle, which remained on its record-setting upward slope. CME February live cattle finished up 0.225 cent at 162.775 cents/lb., extending the nearly-eight-year high on a continuous chart of the front contract (all figures US$). Most actively-traded April live […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
