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Tag Archives regulations — page 2

The Ontario government recently eliminated passenger vehicle and light-duty truck licence plate fees, retroactive for 2020 and 2021. However, commercial or farm-plated vehicles were not included in that change and to reduce fees, farmers should take a look at how they are using their trucks and decide if it’s worth it to keep a farm or commercial plate.
News

Re-thinking the value of farm plates for pickup trucks

Changes to the Ontario vehicle fee system cause of confusion for farm businesses

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Your pickup is licensed to farm, but are the benefits worth the price to plate?  “We recommend that our members – and all farmers – really look at what they use their truck for,” said Ian Nokes, Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) transportation policy analyst. If the trucks are more for personal use than farm […] Read more
File photo of a Chinese cornfield. (Baona/iStock/Getty Images)
Crops

China proposes new rules to ease GMO approvals

Leadership seeks 'turnaround' in seed sector

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Beijing | Reuters — China is planning changes to its seed regulations that will make it easier to approve genetically modified crops, a move seen as a critical step toward commercializing GM corn. The ministry of agriculture and rural affairs published a draft document late on Friday proposing a series of amendments to several different […] Read more
(Mysticenergy/iStock/Getty Images)
Machinery

Exemptions, extensions to be granted for rail crossing upgrades

New amendments would exclude low-risk field-to-field crossings

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Some farmer-owned field-to-field grade crossings over Canadian rail lines are now expected to be exempted altogether from looming federal requirements for safety upgrades. Proposed amendments to the Grade Crossings Regulations, announced June 18 by Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, this week cleared their 30-day public comment period. The amendments are expected to tweak rules which were […] Read more
Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, with Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna (l) and Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault (r), speaks at the Dominion Arboretum in Ottawa on Dec. 11, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Blair Gable)
Machinery

No credit expected for farmers’ past work in new carbon market

Work on protocols for specific projects to begin this spring, department says

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Draft regulations for Canada’s new carbon market show Canadian farmers won’t receive credit for removing any greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from the atmosphere prior to 2017. Federal Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson on Friday announced the offset market, to be known as the Federal Greenhouse Gas Offset System. A 60-day public consultation period on draft regulations […] Read more
News

Editorial: Minding the fence lines

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The idiom goes that fences make good neighbours, but fence building also makes enemies, even among people who live and work next to each other on farms. That’s why decades ago the province created the Line Fences Act to provide a mechanism to solve fencing disputes and keep them out of the courts. Back when […] Read more
Fence disputes have been managed by provincial guidelines, but that responsibility could soon fall to municipalities.
News

Fence disputes to fall to municipalities to resolve

The Line Fences Act has provided a province-wide system for fence dispute resolution

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The provincial government is eliminating the Line Fences Act, which has kept the peace relating to property border fences in rural Ontario for generations. The act will be eliminated in two years if Bill 132, a large piece of legislation designed to reduce government regulation across 15 ministries – called an omnibus bill – passes. […] Read more
File photo of fresh cherries from a roadside fruit stand at Penticton, B.C. (Amy Mitchell/iStock/Getty Images)
Crops

New EU import curbs on fruit not Canada-specific

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Ottawa | Reuters — New European Union rules that could block shipments of Canadian cherries and other fruits to the 28-nation grouping apply to all countries and “was not unusual,” a senior Canadian official said on Friday. The clarification from federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau came a day after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) […] Read more
(Juanmonino/iStock/Getty Images)
Crops

Cannabis edibles clear for legal launch before year-end

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Food products containing cannabis are expected to be on the retail market by mid-December at the earliest under new federal regulations announced Friday. Health Canada on Friday announced amendments to the Cannabis Regulations will be published June 26 to come into force Oct. 17, laying out rules for legal production and sale of edible cannabis, […] Read more
(Bhofack2/iStock/Getty Images)
Crops

New federal standard to expand beer ingredient options

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More variety in allowable ingredients and more requirements for declarations are now part of the federal rules on what can be called beer in Canada. The federal government on May 1 announced “modernized” beer standards under Canada’s Food and Drug Regulations (FDR) — the rules laying out the requirements to be met by a product […] Read more

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