Kathleen Wynne was sworn in as Ontario’s premier yesterday, and, as expected, assumed the role of agriculture minister in addition to her role as premier. What surprised many, however, was that she didn’t take on OMAFRA — she just took on OMAF, as the Rural Affairs portion of the ministry was handed to Jeff Leal,… Read More
Category: News
Amidst pressure from investors to split its business, Agrium has appointed two big names to its board of directors — David Everitt and Mayo Schmidt. While Everitt, recently retired from Deere & Co., may not be a household name in Western Canada, Mayo Schmidt most certainly is. Schmidt was most recently president and CEO of… Read More
Premier-elect of Ontario, Kathleen Wynne, has officially announced she’ll take on the ag portfolio in addition to her duties as premier when she is sworn in on February 11, 2013. As a very busy, multi-tasking woman myself, my hat goes off to her. From Twitter: @Kathleen_Wynne “Committed to serve as Minister of Agriculture, Food &… Read More
Today is potentially a very big day for Western Canadian farmers and the petroleum industry. Ceres Global Ag Corp will be investing heavily in new rail infrastructure to connect Canadian farmers directly to the Texas Gulf and Mexico. A Canadian grain expert (who requested to be kept confidential) quickly told RealAgriculture.com that, “this would of never… Read More
Statistics Canada released its estimates for 2012 year-end crop stocks today. As of December 31, total stocks of most principal field crops were down compared with the same date in 2011. Corn is the big exception — record yields in 2012 have boosted on-farm stocks. Canola stocks are estimated at 7.4 million tonnes, a 23.6% drop from December 31, 2011. It… Read More
RealAgriculture.com is pleased to announce journalist and journalism instructor Owen Roberts of the University of Guelph begins a new weekly column this week, entitled “Real Talk, Real Action.” Each Thursday, Owen’s column will feature a new call to action for the agriculture community, related to a current agriculture event or news story. This new feature… Read More
CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) today announced it will transition open outcry trading of Kansas City Board of Trade (KCBT) hard red winter (HRW) wheat futures and options to its Chicago trading floor beginning Monday, July 1, 2013, pending CFTC review. The company’s release says this transition will accelerate efficiencies and trading opportunities for customers trading both… Read More
It’s quite rare for farmers to be front and centre in mainstream media. Still more rare is to see a speech made in the late 70s start trending on Twitter during the Super Bowl, but that’s exactly what happened. While the game wound down and the 49’ers very nearly made a comeback, you’d think Twitter… Read More
As we’ve covered here on RealAgriculture.com before, the Ontario government announced last year that it would end the Slots at Racetrack program as of March 31, 2013. The partnership had allowed Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) to house its VLTs at racetracks throughout the province, and the tracks were given a 20% stake in the… Read More
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and International Trade Minister Ed Fast today announced the Government of Canada has reached an agreement with Japan to expand market access to Canadian beef from animals under 30 months of age (UTM). This is an improvement over the current requirement which only permits beef exports from animals under 21 months… Read More