The second phase of the Dairy Farm Investment program will start accepting applications in the New Year. The federal program is a five-year, $250-million program to “help Canadian cow’s milk producers improve productivity through upgrades to their equipment.” The government says the program is designed to assist dairy producers adapt to the anticipated impacts of… Read more »
Category: CETA
Selling Canadian Cereals or “Where in the world is Cam Dahl?”
As anyone who owns a business knows, producing a product is only part of the process. Selling that product is perhaps more important. When you export 90 percent of what you produce, you have to go around the world to sell it. Cam Dahl, president of Cereals Canada, is a part of this process, and… Read more »
Minister Carr to meet with Manitoba producers
The Honourable Jim Carr, Minister of International Trade Diversification, will be in Manitoba November 1. His trip is part of the federal trade diversification strategy that connects “innovative, ambitious and hard-working Canadians” to more global markets. In downtown Winnipeg, the Taste of Trade event will take place in which Carr will meet with agricultural producers, food… Read more »
Loss of Class 7 — not access — the larger USMCA problem, says economist
There was a tremendous amount of relief, and some consternation, when the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) was finally struck. Cleary, many industries are simply happy that things did not get worse. The dairy industry, though, feels that things did get worse for them. Dr. Richard Barichello, professor, food and resource economics at the University… Read more »
MacAulay embarks on EU tour after completing Canadian agri-food tour
As one tour comes to an end, another one begins. Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay has ended his cross-Canada tour dubbed “Growing Canadian Agriculture.” For the duration of the second part of the tour, MacAulay went from west to east meeting with various farmers, processors, and industry leaders. He also took part in… Read more »
Trade minister says CPTPP will be among first things House debates
Federal Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr was in Saskatoon last week for the federal Liberal caucus meeting. Carr and Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion, took the opportunity to address the Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce in what was billed as a ‘fireside chat’. The discussion focussed mostly on the programs available to… Read more »
With Trump making overtures to the EU, is Canada being left behind?
Although the European Union is currently experiencing significant political shifts within its body of countries, it is still one of the world’s leading economic blocks and is very attractive to exporters from around the world. Its history of protectionism, with tariffs and import quotas on agricultural products, is well documented. This makes trade with the… Read more »
“It’s astronomically impossible to expect zero ag subsidies in the EU”
The European Union looking to mend fences with the Trump administration could have a major impact on agriculture, as the U.S. looks for a win with one of its trading partners. The EU/U.S. trade front is one that Canadians should pay particularly close attention to as we already have preferential market access over the U.S…. Read more »
Action needed to reopen Italy to Canadian durum: Cereals Canada
With the ink still drying on a trade agreement that was supposed to reduce barriers to trade, a protectionist measure has shut out one of Canada’s largest single product exports to Europe. Durum wheat shipments from Canada to Italy have been halted since October, shortly after the Italian government announced it was moving ahead with… Read more »
Marketing Canadian beef to the world: an update on trade
Earlier this week, China agreed to expand access for Canadian beef, committing to establishing the documentation requirements and fully implementing the 2016 bone-in beef agreement. The country also agreed to establish a pilot project to allow chilled beef and pork imports from Canada. China agrees to pilot project for chilled Canadian beef and pork John… Read more »
Meat label policy changed, a step closer to opening pork access to EU
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has made a change to its labeling rules for packers that moves the Canadian pork industry a step closer to benefitting from the Canada-European Union trade agreement. A change to the CFIA Manual of Procedures will now allow packers to apply EU health mark labels after meat has been… Read more »
U.S. dairy request a ‘non-starter,’ says ag minister
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 »
Celebrating CETA while obstacles remain
The provisional application of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union (EU) officially started this week, which had the Canadian trade team in Brussels actually jumping for joy. But the work is far from over, as technical barriers are holding the agriculture and agri-food industry back from reaching their full… Read more »
Canadian dairy groups disappointed with Canada-EU cheese import allocation
Canada’s dairy processors and producers say the federal government has “failed to adequately support its dairy sector” after announcing plans for the allocation of cheese import licenses through the Canada-European Union trade deal (CETA). Canada agreed to tariff rate quotas for nearly 18 million kilograms of annual cheese imports in CETA under two categories: 16… Read more »
The Path Forward for Remaining Trans-Pacific Partnership Signatories
There’s a reluctance among the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) signatories to walk away from all the progress made with the deal, even though the United States has withdrawn its involvement with the deal. And while Claire Citeau, with the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, is disappointed with the TPP deal proper being hamstrung, she says last week’s meeting… Read more »