Soy Canada is calling on the European Union to move ahead with its decision on approval of three genetically modified soybean products and for an explanation of why it’s taken so long. Monsanto was planning to introduce one of these GM traits — Roundup Ready 2 Xtend and its stacked glyphosate and dicamba tolerance — to… Read More
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 Canadian dairy sector’s problem with too much skim milk supply could get worse if the Trans-Pacific Partnership becomes reality, according to analysis done by Al Mussell and his colleagues at Agri-Food Economic Systems. Milk, in simple terms, consists of butterfat and skim milk, with Canada’s dairy quota production system based on demand for butterfat. As… Read More
The response from much of Canada’s agriculture sector to the conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations has been positive, as it appears to assures critical export market access for grains and oilseeds, beef and pork. Supply-managed sectors still have some concerns, but most of their worst fears about the deal did not come true. While… Read More
The federal government has promised $4.3 billion to compensate the supply-managed dairy and poultry sectors for concessions made in the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal announced this week, but for chicken farmers, a coinciding decision by Ottawa to close import loopholes for chicken is seen as more important than the compensation. Mike Dungate, executive director of Chicken Farmers of Canada,… Read More
Whether it was the rail transportation fiasco in Western Canada, the ongoing country-of-origin labeling dispute with the U.S., the Canada-E.U. trade deal, UPOV ’91, bee health, the Canadian Wheat Board…the list goes on — 2014 was another eventful and exciting year in Canadian agriculture. Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz joined RealAg’s Kelvin Heppner to look back at what… Read More
Ontario and Quebec ag ministers met recently to discuss opportunities to create an action plan for growing domestic and export markets in cooperation, including focusing on the SIAL international food trade show held annually in Toronto and Montreal. According to a department press release, Jeff Leal, Ontario’s Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and… Read More
While it can be difficult to picture it from the middle of a wheat field in rural Saskatchewan, changes to the global economy have a very real impact at the field level…eventually. It’s those big-picture economic forces that J.P Gervais, chief economist with Farm Credit Canada (FCC) will outline at his upcoming presentation at the… Read More
Today, at the Canada-EU Summit in Ottawa, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, signed a formal declaration marking the end of negotiations for the Canada-Europe Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). The final text of the deal — more than 1,600 pages long — was also made public for the… Read More
While new bilateral trade agreements present many opportunities, international trade is also becoming much more complicated for agriculture companies in the export business, say the authors of a report published by the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (read the paper here.) With bilateral deals with the European Union, Japan and South Korea in the works, keeping… Read More
The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) compliance panel has issued a preliminary ruling on the complaint sent forward by Canada and Mexico on the United States’ Country of Origin Labelling rules. The ruling, sent to all three countries, remains confidential. “In the past, these confidential rulings have been leaked, so they’re usually pretty poorly kept secrets, but this… Read More
The Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture hosted the 2014 Agriculture Trade Summit in Saskatoon in early February. It was there that I met Jennifer Higginson, deputy director of the trade negotiations division of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Higginson’s presentation dealt largely with the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), citing an eventual elimination of over 95%… Read More
If you asked me a year ago today what I was up to for the winter, I would have grinned and said, “feeding cows.” A few months in, and I may not have been grinning much, save for one thing: podcasts. (sorry AM/FM radio stations, our rural tractors don’t come with 30′ antennas) Long, cold… Read More
By Michael Grant, Director, Research, Centre for Food in Canada This post first appeared here, and is re-posted here with permission. An upcoming report for The Conference Board of Canada’s Centre for Food in Canada argues that it is time for the Canadian dairy sector to transition from playing defence to playing offense. The notion… Read More
To say the hog industry in Canada has struggled in recent years would be kind. Consolidation, low to negative margins, labeling requirments from the U.S. and a moratorium in Manitoba have weighed heavily on the industry. So it’s not a surprise that Friday’s announcement of a signed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the… Read More