The Quebec government has brought in a mediator to try to restart labour talks that stalled ahead of a strike at one of the province’s biggest poultry plants. Provincial Labour Minister Jean Boulet on Friday named Helene Poulin as a special mediator on the labour dispute at the Exceldor poultry plant at Saint-Anselme, about 30 […] Read more
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Quebec names mediator in Exceldor poultry strike
Major chicken plant's workers off job since May 23

Olymel gets home province’s backing for plant upgrades
Quebec to invest $150 million in packer
Pork and poultry producer and packer Olymel has picked up equity investments from its home province to support a total of $315 million in plant upgrades. The Quebec government announced Tuesday it would invest $74 million in Olymel through its economy and innovation ministry’s Fonds pour la croissance des entreprises quebecois (FCEQ) plus $76 million […] Read more

Workers call strike at Olymel hog plant in Quebec
Producers urged to prioritize heavier hogs when shipping
Talks toward a new contract for unionized employees at meat packer Olymel’s hog slaughter and processing plant in Quebec’s Beauce region have ended in a strike. The Syndicat des travailleurs d’Olymel Vallee-Jonction-CSN, which represents over 1,000 staff at Vallee-Jonction, about 60 km southeast of Quebec City, called an “indefinite” strike effective Wednesday morning, the union […] Read more

Canada’s soybean, corn acres projected to rise
StatsCan's estimates see Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba planting more
Statistics Canada’s first read of farmers’ intentions for the 2021 growing season shows more Canadian acres going into both soybeans and corn. Farmers nationwide anticipate planting 5.3 million acres to soy in 2021, up 5.5 per cent from 2020, StatsCan said in its field crop survey released Tuesday. “An increase in anticipated (soy) area is […] Read more

Agropur to shed bulk milk handling in Quebec, Nova Scotia
Unnamed buyers to take over Quebec milk runs
Dairy co-operative Agropur is stepping away from hauling farmers’ milk in two of the provinces where it does business. The Quebec company announced Monday it would sell its Quebec bulk milk hauling business to unnamed “companies whose core business is transporting liquid food products,” and would also halt its milk transport work in Nova Scotia. […] Read more

Quebec to reduce onus for farm workers seeking workers’ comp for Parkinson’s
Amended rule would grant 'presumption' for pesticide exposure
Some Quebec farmers and farm workers with Parkinson’s disease may soon have an easier path to seek workers’ compensation — if they can show at least a certain amount of exposure to pesticides. Provincial Labour Minister Jean Boulet on Tuesday tabled an amendment to bill 59, draft legislation that includes updates to Quebec’s workplace health […] Read more

Former F. Menard hog plant upgrading for second shift
Olymel announces $9 million in renovations
Pork and poultry packer Olymel plans to dial up its pork output with a new evening shift at a Quebec hog plant it now owns in the province’s Monteregie. Olymel, the meat packing arm of Sollio Co-operative Group, said Friday it will invest $9 million in renovations at its slaughter, cutting and deboning plant at […] Read more

Long-range forecast points to cool, wet spring for northern Prairies
MarketsFarm — Central and northern agricultural regions of Saskatchewan and Alberta are forecast to see cooler-than-normal temperatures with above-average precipitation over the next three months, according the latest long-range outlook from Environment Canada. The department’s latest seasonal weather maps, dated Sunday, show a 40-50 per cent chance of above-normal precipitation across most of the northern […] Read more

Triple-herbicide-tolerant soybean set for limited 2021 release
Bayer's XtendFlex soybeans pick up needed approvals
Bayer Crop Science expects to have “a small volume” of its new XtendFlex soybeans in the Canadian seed market for the 2021 growing season. XtendFlex soybeans, whose trait package is stacked with herbicide tolerance for glyphosate and dicamba as well as glufosinate, will be available in Canada for planting this spring, but not in all […] Read more

GM aims to end sale of gasoline- and diesel-powered light trucks, cars by 2035
Washington | Reuters — General Motors said on Thursday it was setting a goal to sell all its new cars, SUVS and light pickup trucks with zero tailpipe emissions by 2035, a dramatic shift by the largest U.S. automaker away from gasoline and diesel engines. GM, which also said it plans to become carbon-neutral by […] Read more