The Hon. Gerry Ritz served as Canada’s agriculture minister for eight years — from the summer of 2007 to the fall of 2015. Not everybody agreed with his politics or his personality, but there’s no question Ritz had a big impact on the direction of Canadian agriculture. From ending the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly to… Read More
Category: Stability Programs
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has issued his marching orders for his new cabinet. As part of his commitment to “open and transparent” government, the ministerial mandate letters are being shared publicly for the first time. All 30 letters were posted on the Prime Minister’s Office website on Friday, including a letter to Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of… Read More
The AgriInvest program was designed to help Canadian farmers manage small declines in income, but the Canadian Federation of Agriculture wants the government to recognize the benefits of the program are much broader in scope. As one of the four main business risk management programs under the five-year Growing Forward 2 framework, AgriInvest offers producers a savings… Read More
There was a time when it was hard for farmers to access credit — so much so that it spurred the creation of a farm credit corporation, now known as Farm Credit Canada. Those old enough to remember FCC’s creation are also old enough to recount the hardship that was farming in the early 1980s…. Read More
Livestock producers in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, who faced forage shortfalls due to extreme weather events this last year, will be allowed to defer tax on their cattle sales for 2014, says Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz. There is a list of designated regions where tax deferrals have been authorized for 2014 — see… Read More
In 2011, a new provincial cost-shared Risk Management Program (RMP) was created for the Ontario agriculture industry. Farmer leaders across commodity groups came together as the Ontario Agricultural Sustainability Coalition (OASC), and worked with the provincial government to design a made-in-Ontario solution to help bring “predictability, stability and bankability to the farming sector.” In the fall of 2013,… Read More
The federal and Manitoba governments are offering AgriRecovery funding to help flooded livestock producers cover feed and transportation costs. The Manitoba government estimates 75,000 acres of hayland belonging to approximately 330 farms around Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipegosis were flooded in May and June. Earlier today, Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Manitoba Agriculture, Food and… Read More
The Ontario government has announced a program to help beekeepers rebuild their colonies, as a means to maintain the essential role honeybees play in the pollination of agricultural crops. Harsh winter conditions and ongoing health threats, such as from varroa mites or other pests, have knocked back bee populations. The province is anticipating higher than… Read More
Once again Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz took to the stage at the FarmTech conference to talk to a packed house about the state of agriculture in Canada. This year saw the Minister announce details on two federal Growing Forward 2 programs as well as address a number of other topics including the lay of… Read More
Christie Young is the Executive Director of FarmSmart and this week she has created some stir within the Canadian Agriculture industry by saying that our industry is not prepared for the coming mass farmer retirements. What has really caused the stir is her statement that the government has some sort of responsibility to ensure we prepare… Read More