Originally announced in the provincial budget earlier this year, the Ontario government has officially launched the new Winery Agri-Tourism COVID-19 Relief Initiative. The fund of $10 million will be distributed to Ontario wineries and cideries with on-site stores whose business were impacted by COVID-19 safety measures to stop the spread of the virus. Businesses that saw a… Read More

Ministers of agriculture from federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) governments across Canada discussed how to respond to the drought and wildfires in Western Canada on Thursday, in what may have been their final meeting before a federal election, if one is called in the coming weeks. The ministers also continued their discussions on changes to… Read More

The federal government will not be contributing to enhancements to AgriStability announced by the Ontario government last week, unless a consensus is reached to increase the compensation rate across the country, says federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau. On Friday afternoon, newly-minted Ontario Agriculture Minister Lisa Thompson announced the province would move ahead with increasing the… Read More

Ontario is moving ahead with changes to the AgriStability program for farmers in the province, regardless of the federal government’s support or the agreement of other provinces. Last November, the federal government proposed removing the Reference Margin Limit (RML) and increasing the compensation rate from 70 per cent to 80 per cent. Because of how the… Read More

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently published its annual report on estimates of support to agriculture, titled the “Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation 2021.” The report monitors and evaluates agricultural policies in 54 countries, including the 38 OECD countries, five non-OECD EU Member States, and 11 emerging economies. Between 2018 to 2020,… Read More

Increased funding for business risk management programs is the main driver of a $23.1 million increase for agriculture in Saskatchewan’s proposed budget. Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Donna Harpauer tabled the province’s 2021-22 budget on Tuesday, featuring a deficit of $2.6 billion and a plan to return to balanced books in 2026-27. The budget includes… Read More

The most recent meeting of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) ag leaders came to a conclusion Thursday without a consensus on Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Marie-Claude Bibeau’s proposed AgriStability changes. Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, says that the conclusion of the FPT meetings was a good deal for farmers, but the… Read More

The meeting of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial ag leaders ended without a full agreement on what Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Marie-Claude Bibeau proposed back in November, 2020. At that time, Bibeau offered to remove the reference margin limit and increase the coverage level from 70 per cent to 80 per cent. The cost structure of… Read More

After what feels like a never-ending game of extra innings baseball, the standoff between the Prairie provinces and the federal government over changes to AgriStability needs to end. All stakeholders are exhausted from the timeline-stretching, blown deadlines, fake outrage, and pure avoidance to find a solution to a rather simple issue. At different times it… Read More

The federal minister of agriculture says it’s been over 100 days since proposed funding and changes to AgriStability were announced, but she has not received a clear indication from any of the three Prairie Provinces on whether or not they will sign on. In a press conference Wednesday morning, Agriculture and Agri-Food minister Marie-Claude Bibeau… Read More

One of the silver linings of COVID-19 is that it has shone a spotlight on Canadian farms and food production, says the federal agriculture minister. Marie-Claude Bibeau joined Shaun Haney for Canada’s Agriculture Day to highlight the event and discuss several key agriculture policy files. Bibeau also delivered the opening remarks at Agriculture More Than… Read More

Farmers in Alberta will see a significant reduction in their crop insurance premiums for the 2021 growing season. Announced January 25 by the Alberta government and the Agricultural Financial Services Corporation (AFSC), a 20 per cent reduction will save farmers more than $55 million on their crop insurance premiums this year. Minister of Alberta Agriculture… Read More

Provincial agriculture ministers have been given a deadline of the end of January to indicate whether they want to pursue the federal government’s proposal to enhance the AgriStability business risk management program, according to high-level sources familiar with the file. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau offered to drop the reference margin limit and increase the compensation… Read More

 

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