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Tag Archives Agricultural policy

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Report highlights optimism, resignation in agriculture sector

Belief industry and government can remedy policy, extreme weather, and trade issues varies considerably

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A troublesome policy and regulatory environment, extreme weather, and trade barriers are the issues keeping Canadian agriculture professionals awake at night. That’s according to a joint report from the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) and the University of Saskatchewan’s Global Institute for Food Security on risk in Canada’s agrifood system.
Craig Lester is an Albertan who has attended Food and Agriculture Organization meetings.
News

Agriculture policy when you’re one of the only farmers in the room

Three Nuffield scholars discuss what it’s like to attend UN agriculture policy forums

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The international community regularly convenes to discuss the future of global food and agricultural policy. Whether at the World Food Forum, Committee on Food Security or some related event, agriculture-related policies are frequently made with little input from people directly involved in agriculture. Efforts to change this are ongoing. Why it matters: Agricultural policy set […] Read more
(LOP.parl.ca)

Carbon exemption bill nearing close of Senate deliberations

Farm groups hoped to see Bill C-234 made law in time for harvest

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A bill to exempt propane and natural gas from the carbon price when used for grain drying and barn heating was nearing the end of its winding road through the Senate after an Oct. 5 meeting. Thursday morning the Senate’s committee on agriculture and forestry heard final witnesses speak on Bill C-234, which would amend […] Read more
The senior vice-president of the Royal Bank says Canada should commit to producing 25 per cent more food in this decade with fewer emissions.
News

Canada encouraged to aim for an agricultural moon shot

Royal Bank’s senior VP says agriculture industry should be a priority for all governments as he urges them to be ‘export obsessed’

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Glacier FarmMedia – Canada requires the national ambition to move agriculture ahead faster and in a climate-smart way, said Royal Bank senior vice-president John Stackhouse. Speaking to the Canadian Federation of Agriculture annual meeting last month, Stackhouse said the country’s agriculture sector is being asked to do more to feed and fuel the world but […] Read more
The change in farm size distribution has several crucial implications.
News

Opinion: One-size-fits-all policies no longer work

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Canada’s agriculture industry has been undergoing significant changes over the past 45 years. Since the 1970s, the number of farms has been steadily declining, but not all farms have been impacted equally — mid-size farms have been hit the hardest, as the number of small and large farms increases. The mid-size farm category used to cover the majority of agricultural operations. […] Read more
The author writes that while the new APF is a step in the right direction to help farmers mitigate climate change, it isn’t nearly as ambitious as is required to meet the amount of risk farmers face with regards to the increase in severe and frequent adverse weather events.
News

Opinion: Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership delivers on dollars but falls short on climate ambition

It’s not clear how many of the federal-provincial cost-share program dollars will go toward emissions reduction programming

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On July 20, federal, provincial and territorial ministers of agriculture gathered in Saskatoon to finalize a five-year multilateral agricultural policy framework (APF) that promises to have a significant impact on Ontario farmers in the future.  This multi-billion-dollar framework includes several distinct programs, and when they are combined, they represent the main funding mechanism by which […] Read more
By affecting exports, the problem is endangering farmers’ ability to feed the world at a time when the total global population continues to grow, said May Yeung, a professional affiliate at the university’s Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy.
News

‘Slow death by 1,000 regulations’ for agricultural trade

Regulations created to protect human, plant, animal and environmental health in each country becoming detrimental

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Glacier FarmMedia – Farmers’ access to foreign markets is slowly being strangled by an increasingly complex thicket of diverging rules enacted by countries around the world, says a University of Saskatchewan economist. Why it matters: A new policy paper says global food security is being threatened by protectionist trade rules in many exporting countries. “It’s […] Read more
ontario autumn
News

Saving the mid-sized farm

Policy paper suggests altering institutions to offset cost burdens could support smaller farms without harming larger ones

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Statistics Canada data indicates the number of mid-sized farms continues to decrease while comparatively large and very large farms gain in size and number. According to analysts at the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, a Guelph-based agricultural economics think-tank, the trend poses risks for the sector as a whole. The question is: what could stop the […] Read more
How to address or ‘fix’ climate change is the greatest question to face our existence at this point in history.
News

Comment: Agriculture, climate change shouldn’t be exclusive

Food and airline travel should not be equally compared when it comes to climate change, says the writer

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Any time food and farming are spoken of with distain or blamed for something, farmers take it personally. It’s an attack not necessarily on the product grown, but on our character. It’s why I believe it’s hard for many in agriculture and food to digest the latest news, media reports and research that discusses agriculture […] Read more

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