Brigid Rivoire Award recognizes agricultural mental health advocates

Brigid Rivoire Award recognizes agricultural mental health advocates

Applications are now open for the second annual Brigid Rivoire Award for Champions of Agricultural Mental Health. The award is for individuals, organizations or groups that have made an outstanding contribution in raising awareness, addressing the stigma, and supporting agricultural mental health. “Mental health in agriculture has finally been receiving some much-warranted attention, but there’s […] Read more

Record number to be inducted into Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame

Six exceptional Canadians have been selected to join the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame as 2019 inductees in recognition for their lifelong contributions to the agricultural sector. JoAnne Buth, Marc Comtois, Cynthia Grant, Louis Latimer, Laurent Pellerin and Robert Prestage will be officially inducted into the national Hall of Fame at a ceremony on Nov. […] Read more

Mary Robinson. (Foodintegrity.ca)

CFA elects new chief

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture has elected its first-ever female president in a changing of the guard at its latest annual meeting. Mary Robinson, past-president of the Prince Edward Island Federation of Agriculture, was elected president Wednesday at the CFA’s AGM in Ottawa. She replaces Ron Bonnett, the organization’s president since 2010. Keith Currie, president […] Read more

Greenhouse operators will qualify for relief on 80 per cent of the cost of the carbon pricing for building heating and carbon dioxide production.

Carbon pricing system to include relief for farmers

Farm fuel for vehicles looks to be exempt, but barn heating and cooling may still require full payment

Farmers and rural residents will get breaks on what they’ll have to pay under a carbon pricing scheme announced by the federal government. But as of yet, those promises of relief are vague. The federal government announced the measures in late October for provinces unwilling to implement their own carbon pricing scheme. The government also […] Read more

Sugar beets are grown on more than 300 farms across Canada.

Some sweetness found in bitter USMCA deal?

Western sugar beet growers get more access to U.S. market

Flying under the radar in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade is a small change in Canada’s access to the American sugar markets — something that the United States has historically guarded with protectionist policies. In a news release expressing disappointment with many of the concessions granted during trade talks, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture […] Read more


Better conversations on food across government departments should involve farmers and farmer groups.

Editorial: Yes, a food policy for Canada still has a chance

The creation of a national food policy for Canada is a daunting task, full of practical and political pitfalls — likely why no federal government has tackled it before to any extent. I recently waded through the summary of public comments on a food policy released in early September by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. It […] Read more

Woman shopping for tomatoes

Food policy consultations reveal challenges of creating national direction

The next steps, not yet known, will be important to the success of the program, says CFA president

The public is more concerned with conserving environmental health and ensuring access to affordable food, versus growing more of it, according to public consultations on Canada’s Food Policy. The results of a long public consultation process were released recently and show the challenges that the federal government will have in creating A Food Policy for Canada, […] Read more

Limitations: How much change is needed to business risk management programs?

CAPI Report: A cross-country review of business risk management programs will need to address how they encourage or impede innovation

It’s going to be a balancing act between the protection of agriculture safety net programs and the need for innovation as farmers pitch in to meet the goal of growing Canada’s food and agriculture exports. The federal government flagged agriculture as a growth area in the 2017 budget, calling for exporters to grow to $75 […] Read more


Finance Minister Bill Morneau, shown here at a Hunter River, P.E.I. farm in July, proposes a major overhaul to Canada’s tax code affecting private corporations. (Fin.gc.ca)

Farm groups line up against feds’ tax proposal

National, regional and sector farm groups are forming up with several major business associations on the offensive against a proposal to reform how incorporated businesses are taxed in Canada. The federal finance department tabled a series of proposals July 18, opening them for public comment until Oct. 2 for a proposed effective date of Jan. […] Read more