Strong ag industry fundamentals have put a shine on Viterra’s third-quarter financial results as Canada’s largest grain company passes its first fiscal wedding anniversary. Viterra, which formed in late May 2007 from the merger of top Prairie grain handlers Saskatchewan Wheat Pool and Agricore United (AU), on Wednesday posted net earnings of $166.7 million on […] Read more
Merger boosts Viterra’s Q3 ledger
B.C. launches farm assessment consultations
Two months of public consultations on the assessment of farm properties in British Columbia start next week in the community where the topic first became a sore spot among rural property owners. The provincial Farm Assessment Review Panel starts its provincewide run of meetings in Saanich on Sept. 16 at the Poplar Room at the […] Read more
Railways hail proposed diesel tax cut
The federal Conservatives’ pledge Tuesday to cut Ottawa’s excise tax on diesel fuel drew kudos from railways as a move that will help exporters compete internationally. Party leader Stephen Harper said a re-elected Conservative government will cut the federal excise tax on diesel from four cents per litre down to its 1985-86 level of two […] Read more
Viterra opens office in Singapore
Canada’s largest grain company now has an office for its vice-president for Asia to go to. Viterra announced Tuesday that it has opened a new office in Singapore that will serve as the Regina-based grain firm’s Asian headquarters and manage trading activity in the region. The office “will also pursue new value-added opportunities and relationships […] Read more
Alta. reorganizes agriculture programming
Alberta’s provincial agriculture department has “strategically restructured” its program and service delivery, putting more emphasis on support services for agribusinesses and livestock producers. “When I announced the Alberta Livestock and Meat Strategy (ALMS) earlier this summer, I also asked for an internal department review to help the livestock industry with its transformation and revitalization,” Agriculture […] Read more
Rain stalls harvests all across Sask., Man.
Wet and cool weather delayed or halted harvest in all areas of Manitoba and Saskatchewan last week, the two provinces said in their weekly crop reports. Just two per cent of Saskatchewan’s 2008 crop was harvested last week, bringing the total up to 22 per cent, well below the 2003-07 average of 49 per cent […] Read more
Man. cattle producers vote to dump KAP
The Manitoba Cattle Producers Association’s board of directors has voted to pull its membership from the province’s general farm group. MCPA, in this week’s edition of its Cattle Country newsletter, said its directors passed a motion at their September board meeting to withdraw the group’s membership in Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP). “There are many issues […] Read more
Inquiry demanded over mushroom farm deaths
A major Canadian food workers’ union wants to see an inquiry into the deaths of three workers Friday in an apparent toxic gas release at a Langley, B.C. mushroom farm. “The (workers’) families, the public, and all agriculture workers need to know what led to this tragedy and how to prevent it from ever happening […] Read more
FCC to consider farmers’ “integrity” for loans
The federal government has acted on a pledge to require Farm Credit Canada to consider the “personal integrity” of people applying for financing from the federal farm lender. FCC was one on a list of five Crown corporations that will now be required to make such considerations, announced Saturday by federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz […] Read more
Slicers likely source of listeria: Maple Leaf
Processors that produce ready-to-eat meats are being asked to take on “aggressive” cleaning of their meat slicing equipment after Maple Leaf Foods found such machines to be the likely source of a serious listeriosis contamination. Federal and provincial health officials have been investigating an increase in cases of listeriosis infections in people where the bacteria […] Read more
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