With the U.K. set to leave the EU near the end of March, Britain’s trade minister, Liam Fox, seems to be keeping an eye on what he wants to happen after the fact. Many pro Brexiters believe that England would turn to the United States for a quick trade deal since President Donald Trump has shown… Read More
Price fluctuations, higher input costs, and weather-related challenges over the past year took a toll on Canadian net cash income in 2018, and that lower to flat income is projected to continue into 2019, says agriculture economist J.P. Gervais. The chief agricultural economist for Farm Credit Canada says that, even so, the overall the long-term… Read More
Gerry Ritz lives by a quiet lake in the northeastern corner of the riding he used to represent in the House of Commons as a Saskatchewan MP and many years as agriculture minister for Stephen Harper. After two decades of life in politics he says his honey-do list is pretty long, but he has very… Read More
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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