Dear Editor, In the end, who understands the issues of farming, agriculture and agri-food better than the industry itself? Recently, the province launched a program, called “Place to Grow: Agri-food Innovation Initiative, – a program which will help drive innovation, reduce red-tape, and address industry priorities”. From their media release, “under the Canadian Agriculture Partnership (CAP), this initiative […] Read more
Tag Archives Business/Finance — page 9
Agriculture best understands its own program needs
Letter to the editor: Moving CAP funding for organizations from agri-food to the bureaucracy makes little sense
Autonomous platform moves from R&D to commercial sales
DOT and its team spent the winter further developing the platform in Arizona
Continuous field testing of prototype machinery can be a challenge for Canadian ag equipment manufacturers, because our long winters limit access to fields. A good option is to head to southern portions of the U.S. where milder climates make year-round testing possible. Only that way can engineers rack up the maximum number of hours on […] Read more
IBM expands artificial intelligence platform into agriculture
Growers, food companies and agribusiness can boost production with better availability of weather data
International computer systems company IBM is moving further into the agriculture industry. It recently announced the global expansion of Watson Decision Platform for Agriculture in May in an effort to make weather a more predictable business consideration. IBM is combining predictive technology from The Weather Company, which it acquired in 2016 and Internet of Things […] Read more
Farm workers increasingly in short supply
Surveys found that 70 per cent of the agriculture sector is challenged to find staff it needs
Agriculture employers know hiring, training and retaining workers is an ongoing challenge. Jobless rates are going down and that increases the staffing problem. Surveys from AgCareers show more than 70 per cent of the sector struggles to find suitable staff. Why it matters: Farms need a flexible supply of workers in order to remain competitive […] Read more
IGC cuts forecast for 2019/20 world corn production
Global corn stocks are set to fall in 2019-20, but wheat production is expected to increase
London | Reuters – The International Grains Council (IGC) recently cut its forecast for world corn production in the 2019-2020 season, driven by a diminished outlook for the United States crop. The inter-governmental body, in a monthly update, reduced its global corn (maize) crop forecast by seven million tonnes to 1.118 billion tonnes. The U.S. […] Read more
Decline in China hog production boosts global pork trade
The world’s largest meatpacker says its profits will be higher
Reuters – JBS SA, the world’s largest meatpacker, is poised to reap the benefits from additional demand after an outbreak of African swine fever in China reduced pork output. In the first four months of the year, its Australian unit’s beef sales to China soared by 80 per cent, JBS executives said earlier in May during a conference […] Read more
Corn markets seeing potential risk premiums with market uncertainty
Excess precipitation limits corn and soybean seeding in key areas of North America
The Ontario cropping region has received 150 per cent of normal precipitation over the past 30 days. Certain pockets like the region from Toronto to Ottawa has received greater than 200 per cent of normal precipitation. About 15 per cent of the Ontario corn and soybeans have been planted as of May 21. The United […] Read more
Brazil grain growers launch hotline to report Bayer’s market practices
Concerns remain in the aftermath of Bayer’s purchase of rival Monsanto
Sao Paulo | Reuters – A Brazilian grain growers association has launched a hotline to encourage farmers to report practices on the part of Germany’s Bayer SA that potentially could be anti-competitive, according to a statement sent to Reuters April 23. Aprosoja Brasil, which called the initiative “an awareness campaign,” aims to galvanize farmers to […] Read more
Farmer business confidence drops
National survey likely shows impact of trade challenges and government carbon policy
Farmers continue to be a pessimistic group, compared to other sectors of the economy. According to the April findings from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), confidence in the agriculture sector fell 4.4 index points to 44.6, just ahead of the natural resources sector, which had the least confidence at 43.3, an increase over […] Read more
Processing tomato export numbers debated
Where are all the tomatoes going?
The processing tomato market was upended in 2013 when Heinz, the province’s largest processor left. The health of the sector since is being hotly debated. Hardeman recently tweeted a graph that showed a large decline in processing tomato exports from Ontario. In 2008, Ontario exported $75 million worth of processed tomato products (juice, paste and […] Read more
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