A U.S. lobby group that is closely aligned with the Trump administration on trade policy is trying to bring mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) back into the spotlight through the NAFTA negotiations. The Coalition for a Prosperous America, whose board includes R-CALF USA director Bill Bullard, sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on… Read More
Category: Agriculture Policy
Several provincial and national farm groups say they are disappointed with the Canadian Grain Commission’s plan for dealing with its $130 million surplus, and that it underscores the need to update the federal agency’s mandate. The surplus has accumulated through user fees charged for grain inspection and other services — costs that were ultimately passed… Read More
Canadian wheat and barley exports have been caught in the escalating diplomatic dispute between Canada and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government issued a notice on Tuesday to stop all purchases of wheat and barley from Canada. While the Saudi market isn’t a major export destination, the impact will likely be felt in the barley market… Read More
Grain Growers of Canada welcomed four new members at the group’s annual summer meeting in Guelph, Ont. last week. Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO), Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, and Producteurs de grains du Québec joined the national crop producer policy organization. “From our perspective, GFO needed a strong voice in Ottawa that represented farmers,” noted GFO CEO… Read More
The federal environment minister made a rare and unpublicized visit to a grain farm in Manitoba on Thursday. Minister Catherine McKenna dropped in at Curtis McRae’s farm north of Winnipeg near St. Andrews on her way back from a funding announcement for Lake Winnipeg in Gimli. A film crew arrived about an hour before the… 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 three NAFTA partners are reportedly making progress on a deal around auto-content rules, meaning we could see a change in focus to the remaining issues, which includes Canadian market access for U.S. dairy products. There’s plenty of speculation about what the ultimate compromise required to get a deal done will be, but we can… Read More
The Canadian Grain Commission has announced its first expenditure to draw down its $100-plus million user fee surplus that it collected from farmers from 2013 to 2017. The CGC says it will invest $4 million over the next five years in enhancing its Harvest Sample Program. Producers who submit wheat samples to the program starting… Read More
“An exciting time for Canadian flax,” is how the new chair of the Flax Council of Canada describes the announcement of a new structure for the national flax organization on Wednesday. The Flax Council’s restructuring comes after the council decided to close its Winnipeg head office in January due to the need to reduce costs, with… Read More
Crude oil shipments by rail in Canada are at record highs and forecast to continue climbing, as oil production has increased with no major expansion in export pipeline capacity. At the same time, executives for Canada’s two major railways say they intend to maintain rail capacity for grain. 198,788 barrels of oil per day were… Read More