The leaders of the G20 countries are in Argentina this weekend to discuss the world’s current pressing issues. While U.S. President Trump’s supper with China’s President Xi on Saturday night is the main event that the world is watching, another economic pact crawled closer to reality as Canada, Mexico, and the United States signed the… Read More
Year: 2018
The way farmers pay for new variety development is set to change. The federal government is currently hosting consultation meetings across Canada, gathering information and feedback from the seed industry, farmers, farm groups, and industry, on which of two royalty options the industry prefers. Executive director of the Canadian Seed Trade Association, Dave Carey, says… Read More
There will be a new Eastern wheat class starting next July, as the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) continues to update its structure. The Canada Eastern Other Wheat (CEOW) class was created to provide a class for varieties with unique characteristics and to allow producers to take advantage of special contracted varieties. At the same time, the… Read More
On this Thursday edition of RealAg Radio, Shaun Haney is joined once again by occasional co-host Lyndsey Smith. They’re at the final day of Grow Canada, and spend a few minutes of today’s show talking about their favourite keynote speakers and, of course, Rick Mercer. Also on today’s show you’ll hear from Peter Johnson with… Read More
For the first time in more than a decade, alpaca producers were able to show their prized animals off at the 48th annual Canadian Western Agribition. Happy to be back for the Premier Alpaca Halter Event this year was Loretta Peters of Dreamin’ Alpacas. She says it was an easy choice to get into the alpaca… Read More
Many changes come as a result of crisis of one sort or another. Sometimes the threat is obvious, like an across-the-industry drop in revenue, and sometimes it can be more subtle and fly under the radar. Farm Management Canada came into being in 1992 in response to a financial crisis that was facing the agriculture… Read More
When Lawrence MacAulay was first elected to Canada’s House of Commons, Brian Mulroney was Prime Minister. Twenty seven years later in 2015, he was named to Justin Trudeau’s cabinet as Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. After 30 years in parliament, the 72-year-old former dairy and potato farmer from Prince Edward Island says there’s still more to… Read More
In an open letter to the prime minister, Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) are calling for Justin Trudeau not to sign the United-States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement (USMCA). The group states the USMCA will create further harm to the Canadian dairy sector. Adding that the trade document still contains, “provisions that would grant the U.S. oversight into the administration of… Read More
McCain Foods is halfway through $45 million and $30 million in updates to its Portage la Prairie and Carberry potato processing facilities, respectively. Upgrades for the Portage la Prairie site started in 2016, and will wrap late next year. The modifications include the addition of a high efficiency potato sorting system, as well as new processing… Read More
The RealAg Radio duo, Shaun Haney, and co-host, Lyndsey Smith can be found at the Grow Canada Conference at Ottawa, Ontario this week. Today’s show is sponsored by Fortenza seed treatment, powered by Syngenta. Today’s guests include: Pierre Petelle, president and CEO of CropLife Canada Jeff Nielsen, Grain Growers of Canada newly minted chair Jonathan… Read More
The Oilseed Innovation Partners (OIP) group aims to create new opportunities for Canadian oilseeds and the Canadian bio-products sector. It looks like they did just that — in Ontario. American manufacturer of vegetable-oil based lubricants, Renewable Lubricants Inc. (RLI), has picked the province to build its first wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary. The company creates everything from penetrant lubricant sprays,… Read More
If your farming career is less than 20 years old, you’ve likely not had the shock of seeing your debt payments balloon as interest rates rise. Why? Because interest rates have been historically low and very steady for a very long time. That ‘cheap money’ environment is changing, however, as the Bank of Canada has… Read More
There was a time when agriculture was a fabric of the school curriculum in Canada. Over time with the thrust of urbanization and farmers holding a smaller percentage of the population, agricultural education has found itself outside of the curriculum. Agriculture in the Classroom Canada (AITCC) has become the national body representing the nine provincial… Read More
The way farmers support new variety development of most open-pollinated and trait-free crops is set to change. Currently, the federal government is hosting consultation meetings across Canada to garner feedback from farmers, plant breeders, seed companies, and industry on two proposed systems: end point royalty or trailing royalty contracts. The impending change has been a… Read More
The Ontario and federal governments have announced steps to help farmers experiencing revenue loss because of high levels of deoxynivalenol (DON) in their corn crops. While the largest portion of Ontario’s corn crop remains unaffected, the government partners say this support will help ease the impact for effected farmers. It will also assist the entire grain… Read More