After being pushed from July to October due to COVID-19, the FPT Agriculture first ministers meeting has been further delayed to November, according to a tweet from AAFC on Tuesday morning. The AAFC tweet says “Ministers agree to hold their virtual meeting in November to accommodate Saskatchewan election, ensuring all #AgFPT20 partners can be at… Read More
With the appointment of Lianne Rood as the shadow minister of agriculture this week, I think there will be a change in approach regarding agricultural issues between now and an election. Like her predecessor John Barlow, Rood has a strong background in agriculture and an eye on eventually being the minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food… Read More
Much of the Canadian demand for organics is met by imported products. To address this, the Canadian Organic Growers (COG) is launching a federally-funded project to help get more Canadian consumers buying organics produced locally by Canadian organic farmers. With a grant of $640,000, COG will develop a strategy to identify and find solutions to… Read More
This week there was a small but significant cabinet shuffle that will prove very impactful on how Canada steers through the remaining COVID-19 economic challenges. Chrystia Freeland was sworn in as finance minister after the resignation of Bill Morneau. With such a big change at the most senior levels of the cabinet, it may create… Read More
To protect the health and safety of Canadian and migrant farm workers, the government of Canada has been working with municipal, provincial, and territorial governments, as well as farmers, workers, and other employers who participate in the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program. No matter what precautions are taken, it’s inevitable that some farms are going… Read More
The federal and Manitoba governments have announced a new $3 million cost-shared program to help agricultural processors in the province mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Agri-food and agri-product processors, food distributors, and agri-food industry organizations can apply for up to $25,000 for the following: • personal protective equipment and sanitation supplies; • business continuity practices,… Read More
The Liberal Member of Parliament who chairs the House of Commons’ agriculture committee has written a letter to his colleague who serves as agriculture minister pointing out the flaws in the government’s business risk management (BRM) programs for agriculture. The agriculture committee has been studying the federal government’s suite of risk management programs, which includes… Read More
An answer to a follow up question on a conference call by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada minister Marie-Claude Bibeau struck a nerve last week. Bibeau said that the carbon tax on fuel used for grain drying wasn’t a significant enough percentage of operating costs to qualify for an exemption to the “price of pollution.” In… Read More
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) has crunched the numbers on the carbon tax applied to grain drying bills and says it’s simply not a significant enough amount of overall costs to be exempt from the tax. Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau held a Zoom conference call to announce a second intake for the Local Food Infrastructure Fund,… Read More
The federal government has committed to investing up to $9.2 million to fund up to 700 new positions for young people in the agriculture industry through its Youth Employment and Skills Program. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau made the announcement on Tuesday. “During this unprecedented time, our food producers are working hard to feed Canada, while… Read More
The federal government is tweaking the eligibility criteria to help more businesses access the $40,000 interest-free Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loan. Unrolled earlier this spring as part of its COVID-19 relief measures, the government says up to $10,000 of the loan will be forgiven if the rest of the principle is repaid by the… Read More
The federal government is providing $100 million to Farm Credit Canada (FCC) to administer an Agriculture and Food Business Solutions Fund. The fund is targeted at “proven, viable companies through unexpected business disruptions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic,” and will support enterprises in the agribusiness and agri-food sector, including companies involved in primary production, agri-tech,… Read More
A recently announced wage top-up program could apply to farm and food industry workers, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the $3 billion in funding “to increase the wages of low-income essential workers” late last week, and a press release from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) says that provinces and… Read More
When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won the fall election, the agriculture industry knew that it would face real challenges being viewed as a priority industry. I think the challenge has become much bigger than even the greatest skeptics of Mr. Trudeau could have imagined. The prime minister’s announced $252 million in COVID-19 relief for the… Read More
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used his daily 11 am national address to announce $252 million in various funding and credit programs aimed at agriculture. “Everyone working in the food industry is working harder than ever to fill the shelves of our grocery stores,” said Prime Minister Trudeau in French during the morning briefing. The Canadian… Read More
Register for a RealAgriculture account to manage your Shortcut menu instead of the default.