Have you ever tried to solve a problem and the solution you come up with is actually worse than the original problem? Sometimes, in our quest to solve an issue, we fail to realize the full ramifications of the potential solutions we come up with. It’s this kind of chain reaction that makes decision making… Read More
Along with United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack and Attorney General Merrick Garland, U.S. President Joe Biden hosted a roundtable to address consolidation in the meat industry and the impacts on the cattle sector. President Biden opened the roundtable, held January 3, 2022, by mentioning the 50-14 proposed legislation by Tester/Grassley; how… Read More
In November, John Barlow, MP for Foothills, was re-named to the position as the Conservatives’ shadow minister for agriculture. Among Barlow’s current priorities is the attention — or lack thereof — that country-of-origin labelling (COOL) is currently getting in Ottawa. As the conversations grow in strength with a bipartisan bill in the U.S. senate surrounding… Read More
The Canadian government has not yet decided how it will respond to an invitation to join a U.S.-led coalition of countries promoting “sustainable productivity growth” in agriculture. The productivity-focused coalition championed by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at the UN Food System Summit in September is seen as countering the European Union’s Farm to Fork… Read More
The National Cattleman’s Beef Association (NCBA) wants to do away with the Product of the USA label on beef, saying the term could potentially be misleading to consumers. Kent Bacus, senior director of international trade and market access for NCBA, based out of Washington, D.C., explains that current rules state that beef product only has… Read More
The United States has requested and established a dispute settlement panel to review measures regarding Canada’s administration of its dairy tariff rate quota (TRQs) policies, under the new trade agreement USMCA/CUSMA. The U.S. is challenging Canada’s allocation of dairy TRQs — specifically the set-aside of a percentage of each dairy TRQ exclusively for Canadian processors…. Read More
It appears the Biden and Trudeau governments are seeing many issues through a similar lense so far, especially when it comes to fighting climate change, enabling diversity, and a belief in science. Tuesday morning, Canadian Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food Marie-Claude Bibeau and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack met virtually, to discuss the importance of the… Read More
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has consistently moved environmental considerations into nearly every policy it has brought forward, regardless of what sector of the economy the policy is directed towards. For example, the recent environmental roadmap set out by the Liberals links the environmental policy directly with economic results, to the positive. As the countdown… Read More
There has been no shortage of topics and tweets to discuss regarding the Canada-U.S. relationship and trade across the border over the last four years, as President Donald Trump sought to shake up the status quo to the United States’ advantage. This included applying tariffs to Canadian exports in the name of national security, and… Read More
Grain farmers from Ontario to the Maritimes want the Canadian government to respond to American farm subsidies the same way the government has defended Canadian interests against aluminum and steel tariffs. The Atlantic Grains Council, Grain Farmers of Ontario, and Producteurs de grains du Québec have launched a joint campaign to raise awareness of the… Read More
Many of Canada’s smaller farm equipment manufacturers are at risk of being left in the cold by the main U.S.-based manufacturers if the Canadian government doesn’t change its intellectual property rules, say representatives from a Saskatchewan-based company that builds attachments for harvesting equipment. Honey Bee Manufacturing’s general manager, Jamie Pegg, and Scott Smith, manager of… Read More
Due to the trade war between the U.S. and China, the White House used the Market Facilitation Program (MFP) to compensate farmers from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). The compensation was justified based on farmers willing to be “true patriots” for the greater good of America’s decision to call out China on its trading practices…. Read More
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue is a man of the people. There was no better evidence of that than this week when he sat with dairy farmers at the World Dairy Expo to listen to their concerns. Quite simply, U.S. dairy farmers are in a tough spot. After five years of depressed milk prices, producers… Read More
What can corn growers expect from the markets in 2019? In Ontario, will sufficient markets be found for high DON corn? After three years of sideways trade, will world markets finally break the mold and push corn higher? On this edition of RealAgriculture’s Corn School, host Bernard Tobin travels to the ‘Agridome’ at Dresden, Ontario… Read More
The midterm election has come and gone with some changes for the U.S. Congress, along with farmers and ranchers. The House of Representatives will have a Democrat majority and the Republican majority increased in the Senate. Make no mistake, with political power shifting slightly in Washington — Canadians are paying attention. The big questions are… Read More