It’s a win for agriculture commodities, namely pork and beef, but a sore spot for the auto industry, as Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in South Korea this week to finalize and sign a free trade agreement with that country. This Agreement will create jobs & opportunities for Cdns across the country: http://t.co/tUeeYj7qg5 #cdnpoli… Read More
Category: Trade
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
The words “Made in Canada branding campaign” had hardly dried on the page of federal finance minister Jim Flaherty’s Economic Action Plan last week before marketing experts started taking shots at it…even though they didn’t know what it was about. They couldn’t know, because the government itself didn’t — all the budget contained was one… Read More
First, an apology. Eagle-eyed RealAgriculture readers will note that this column was absent last week. After three days at FarmTech ’14 there was more than enough to share, but no time to do it, so I’ll work some of last week into this, if you don’t mind. It’s no secret I like trains. Furthermore, I… Read More
Taiwan and Canada have signed an arrangement to expand market access to include Canadian bone-in beef and other specified beef products from animals under 30 months of age (UTM), according to an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada press release. The arrangement will level the playing field for Canadian beef producers and generate export opportunities to the… Read More
Where is US ag policy headed? I guess that’s the question of the day….or more accurately, that’s the question that’s been asked since 2010. Where is US ag policy headed? We’ve had some bi-polar insights into that direction with initiatives like MCOOL, which, from what we’ve seen and heard, do not have majority industry support… 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
Changes to Canada’s variety registration system and staying competitive and innovative were hot topics at this week’s Canadian Seed Trade Association semi-annual meeting. Federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz was on hand at the CSTA semi-annual meeting to announce a $100,000 worth of funding for the seed industry, but after that announcement the discussion turned to… 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
The Five Nations Beef Alliance (FNBA) met in Australia for their annual conference. Tours and introductions began in Brisbane, then gradually migrated towards Cairns, where the conference concluded. Some of the topics discussed at the FNBA meetings, included discussions around: the letter of support for a comprehensive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, Country of Origin Labelling, consumer preferences, the Young… Read More
In this edition of the Beef Market Update for late September, Anne Wasko, marketing analyst with Gateway Livestock Exchange, offers commentary on last week’s on-feed cattle report out of the U.S. that added to the bullish outlook there. The hiccup is, she explains to RealAgriculture.com editor Lyndsey Smith, that the same bullish factors of tight… Read More
Today marks one year since the CWB was stripped of its monopoly. This climax of, oh, 40 years (or more?) of bickering between those for and against the monopoly was a great day for many, but also rather anti-climatic. As RealAgriculture.com shared then, August 1, 2012 dawned with no earthquakes, riots in the streets or… Read More
Gerry Ritz was on hand at Richardson’s Kelburn Farms, just south of Winnipeg, today to announce a federal government commitment of $15 million to the canola industry. This funding, through Growing Forward 2, will be leveraged to bump that total to more than $20 million, says Patti Miller, president of the Canola Council of Canada… Read More
Prime Minister Stephen Harper shuffled his Conservative government’s cabinet yesterday and, drum roll please…not much, if anything, will change for the agriculture industry. Gerry Ritz remains as Agriculture Minister and Ed Fast stays on as Minister of Trade. There are a few new names in the agriculture fold, as Maxime Bernier takes on the role… Read More