A view of Anchorage, Alaska from Cook Inlet. (RobsonAbbott/iStock/Getty Images)

Trump issues permit for Alaska-to-Alberta railway

Washington | Reuters — U.S. President Donald Trump has issued a presidential permit for a private-sector proposal to build a railway from northeastern Alberta’s oil sands to ports in Alaska, a project that still faces numerous hurdles. Trump said over the weekend on Twitter he would issue the permit, which he signed on Monday but […] Read more

Russell Mackay walked 125 kilometres and in the process raised over $120,000 for the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario

Retired farmer quadruples fundraising goal

Donations still being accepted until Sept. 30

Russell Mackay, an 82-year-old retired farmer, from Beachburg, Ont., met his goal to walk 125 km from the town to Ottawa’s Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). Along the way he raised more than $120,000 to support children at the hospital. His initial goal was to raise $25,000. Mackay, who is diabetic and legally blind, […] Read more

Two Ontarians win 4-H scholarships

4-H Canada has announced the recipients of the 2020 TD 4-H Agriculture Scholarship and they include two students from Ontario. Hanna Reid, from Ontario, is studying Animals Science Technology – Dairy Science at Lakeland College and Tanya Regimbald, also from Ontario, is studying Agriculture Business Management and Technology at Institut de technologie agroalimentaire. TD Bank […] Read more

Canadian farmers can still count on the global market, despite threats to access that they have faced recently in various parts of the world.

Comment: Battered markets are more resilient than they might seem

Trade and food demand still find a way despite political challenges

China knows how to stick it to Canadian farmers. The Europeans know how to keep out Canadian farm products, but they do it with more subtlety and grace. With the United States, who knows what Donald Trump or Joe Biden will do with North American free trade in the next four years? It’s hard to […] Read more

File photo of rye at a grain market in India. (Deepak Sethi/E+/Getty Images)

India’s controversial farm bills become law despite protests

New Delhi | Reuters — India’s president on Sunday approved three controversial agricultural bills amid nationwide protests by farmers who say the new laws will stunt their bargaining power and instead allow large retailers to have control over pricing. Farmers’ organizations say one of the three laws could lead to the government stopping buying grain […] Read more


File photo of Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau speaking to media in Winnipeg in March 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

Canada not benefiting from CETA, Bibeau says

Ex-premiers write to Ottawa with critique of EU's continued trade barriers

Canada is not benefiting from the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union (EU), federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau grants. Expected to spur $1.5 billion in new agri-food exports, the free trade deal has fallen short of those targets since its implementation in 2017. In a letter Monday to Prime Minister Justin […] Read more

Agricultural societies, like the Paris Fair, have access to funding even without hosting a 2020 fair.

Fair funds help Ontario ag societies survive

Larger organizations that host many events in a year are hurting financially

Recent OMAFRA funding for agricultural and horticultural societies will help, but larger exhibitions are having serious challenges. The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) expanded the eligibility for agriculture societies’ annual grant application to help offset the financial losses brought on by COVID-19. For 2020 nearly $1 million are available to all […] Read more

Finding ways to encourage risk taking in agriculture climate resiliency is one recommendation of a Farmers for Climate Solutions report.

Farm group wants climate at forefront of COVID-19 recovery

Farmers for Climate Solutions says farmers should lead the way in providing solutions

A coalition of farm organizations, including several in Ontario, is calling for a Canada-wide recovery plan from the COVID-19 pandemic that puts a strong emphasis on agricultural resilience to climate change. A report released recently by Farmers for Climate Solutions (FCS) — members of which include the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario (EFAO), National Farmers […] Read more


A tract of Amazon jungle burns as it is cleared by farmers at Rio Pardo in Brazil’s Rondonia state on Sept. 15, 2019. (File photo: Reuters/Ricardo Moraes)

JBS vows to monitor whole cattle supply chain’s impact on Amazon

Packer plans to move against cattle 'laundering'

Sao Paulo | Reuters — JBS SA, the world’s top meatpacker, said Wednesday it plans to combat destruction in the Amazon by monitoring its entire supply chain for deforestation by 2025, as pressure mounts from environmentalists and investors. Brazilian meatpackers are facing increasing criticism that beef production is fueling deforestation in the Amazon, where cleared […] Read more

The meeting was held virtually due to the ongoing pandemic.

Agriculture Youth Council holds first meeting

Glacier FarmMedia – Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, hosted the inaugural meeting of the Canadian Agricultural Youth Council on Sept. 3. The 25-member council is sharing with the minister their aspirations for a sustainable and prosperous agriculture and agri-food sector. The council is expected to offer suggestions for the Liberal government recovery plan […] Read more