Trade wars, policy shifts, and geopolitical uncertainty are all weighing on financial markets and global outlooks. Among all the turmoil, concern over climate change and global greenhouse gas emissions is growing, influencing policy worldwide. While 2019 started with ocean freight rates pulling back, impending restrictions on the industry’s sulphur dioxide emissions are putting significant upward… Read More
We now know the terms of dairy farmers’ compensation: each Canadian will give $46 each to dairy farmers over the next 8 years while paying exorbitant retail prices for many dairy products. Eggs and poultry are coming next. And don’t hold your breath because more money given to dairy farmers won’t change much of anything… Read More
What do Chinese government leaders think of Canada? Can our government correct a policy course that has put Canadian agricultural exports on the ropes and knocked canola and meat out of the globe’s most lucrative economy? Earlier this week, RealAg Radio host Shaun Haney put these questions to Charles Burton, senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier… Read More
Eastern Ontario’s Port of Johnstown will see a $10.4 million infrastructure renewal and expansion to capitalize on growing and emerging markets for Canadian soybean, wheat and corn, and relieve inefficiencies and bottlenecks currently experienced at the port. The federal government will foot $4.8 million of the bill through the National Trade Corridors Fund (NTCF) to… Read More
Ontario’s minister of agriculture is asking — again — that the federal government move on with resolving large-scale trade issues with China, and that the feds provide compensation for the meat sector in the meantime. Following up on a request made in early July and post-federal-provincial-territorial (FPT) meeting of agriculture ministers at Quebec City, Minister… Read More
The trade battle between the U.S. and China has taken a turn for the worse for farmers and ranchers in the U.S. in the past four days. On the heels of President Donald Trump announcing the U.S. would impose a 10 per cent tariff on the final US$300 billion of untouched imports from China on… Read More
U.S. President Donald Trump has decided to increase pressure on China, just as the U.S. trade teams return to home soil this week. The president has announced a 10 per cent tariff on US$300 billion in imports from China effective September 1, a move that will result in essentially all Chinese products — including cell… Read More
The Senate Finance Hearing on United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) took place in Washington, D.C., this week. Discussion centred on the importance of North American free trade to U.S. agriculture and the economy as a whole. Agriculture was well represented on the panel by former USDA Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, who is the current president… Read More
Grain Farmers of Ontario has announced a year-long project to expand Ontario grain and oilseed exports to the European Union. The project is funded in part by the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. The increased focus on the region stems from the signing of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union (EU),… Read More
The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food along with the Minister of International Trade Diversification met with leaders of various Canadian pork and meat organizations earlier this week to discuss the latest in trade woes with China. “We are working closely with farmers, industry, provinces and exporters to restore market access to China as quickly as… Read More
Approaching two years since fumigation requirements were slapped on Canadian pulse imports following several years of being exempt, Canada and other export countries have been granted an extended reprieve. Announced July 2, the Government of India has extended “relaxation” of fumigation requirements to the end of 2019. Canada had long been exempt from the fumigation requirement,… Read More
When a shipment of pork arrived in China testing positive for the feed additive ractopamine, the Canadian Pork Council saw it as a red flag. “We have a ractopamine-free certification program that involves basically the producer’s decision not to use it, and then a whole process to ensure that the animals do not come in… Read More
With no ambassador on the ground in China, and no face-to-face meeting scheduled between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chinese President Xi Jinping, it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel of the latest round of trade suspensions. “Wringing hands and begging Trump to intervene are not a good Plan… Read More
Less than one day after the news broke that Canadian meat exports to China were to be halted immediately, Minister of International Trade Diversification Jim Carr confirms the certificates were in fact inauthentic and that, “somebody is trying to use the Canadian brand to move product into the Chinese market.” China halts pork and beef… Read More
When it comes to market access woes, the pulse industry has had its share. India “It was 2004 when India introduced some issues around stem and bulb nematode – so that’s fifteen years we’ve been working with India trying to get that issue resolved,” says Gordon Bacon, CEO of Pulse Canada. “And of course India’s… Read More