The tone surrounding NAFTA negotiations certainly turned during the fourth round of talks, which wrapped up Tuesday in Arlington, Virginia. Pessimistic or gloomy would be appropriate descriptors, definitely out of tune, even if you’re optimistic. After three rounds with little progress, U.S. negotiators came out swinging, tabling multiple ‘non-starters’ in the eyes of Canada and… Read More
Author: Kheppner
American requests for changes to Canada’s supply management system for dairy and poultry are a “non-starter,” said Canada’s agriculture minister on Monday. U.S. negotiators introduced an initial dairy proposal on Friday, which calls for increased transparency and changes to Canada’s milk class system, including the elimination of the new class 7 that has taken away… Read More
New tractor sales numbers in Canada continue to exceed last year’s levels, and sales activity in the U.S. The Association of Equipment Manufacturers has released its September flash report on new tractor and combine sales in Canada and the United States. In Canada, four-wheel-drive tractor sales were up almost 80 percent from September of last year,… Read More
The tone surrounding the negotiations to update NAFTA has taken a gloomy turn, especially for agriculture, with a growing consensus that there’s a real chance President Trump will try to follow through on his repeated threats to pull the U.S. out of NAFTA. Even Prime Minister Trudeau, after meeting with Trump on Wednesday, sounded like someone… Read More
Bayer has signed an agreement to divest some of its crop business to BASF for €5.9 billion (approximately C$8.7 billion) to gain regulatory approval for Bayer’s planned acquisition of Monsanto. The transaction with BASF includes Bayer’s global glufosinate-ammonium business and the related LibertyLink herbicide tolerance technology. BASF is also marking its entry into the seed… Read More
From Prince Rupert down to Vancouver’s Fraser River ports, grain companies are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure for loading grain onto ships destined for overseas markets. Just a few weeks ago, Raymont Logistics opened the only unit train stuffing facility on Canada’s west coast at Prince Rupert. In Vancouver, on the north shore of Burrard… Read More
No two farm business plans are identical. A young, aggressive producer focused on expanding likely needs a comprehensive business plan with detailed cash flow and business projections to satisfy investors and partners. On the other extreme, the business plan for an established farm with no children interested in taking over can be very simple —… Read More
After months of very little public activity on the Trans-Pacific Partnership file, the Canadian government says it wants to know what Canadians think about a potential agreement with the remaining TPP members. Global Affairs Canada, in a notice published in the Sept. 30th Canada Gazette, calls for views on a TPP deal with the other… Read More
Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay continues to downplay the potential impact of the Liberals’ proposed tax changes, despite widespread concerns voiced by many farmers, small business owners and their accountants. The minister took 10 minutes to sit down with RealAgriculture in his office in the Confederation Building on Parliament Hill this week to discuss the tax… Read More
Negotiators are trying to ignore the politics and noise surrounding their attempt to update the North American Free Trade Agreement, but the big decisions will ultimately be made in the political realm. And that means what happens on the ground in the negotiating room has to be within the range of what political leaders, including… Read More