New York | Reuters -- Shake Shack Inc.'s filing this week for an initial public offering underscores a question for investors and foodies alike: How hungry are U.S. consumers for another burger chain? A key part of Shake Shack's growth strategy involves expanding its locations beyond its New York base, and investors and analysts are[...]
Ont. Tories' former ag critic returns to post
Ontario's provincial Progressive Conservatives have brought back a former agriculture critic in a shuffle of their shadow cabinet as the legislature returns to work. Toby Barrett, the MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk since 1995 and Tory ag critic from 2005 to early 2008, has been renamed as critic for agriculture, food and rural affairs, replacing Oxford MPP[...]
Ontario voters return ag incumbents in Wynne's win
Ontario's incumbent agriculture minister and her opposition critics are all headed back to Queen's Park as voters gave Premier Kathleen Wynne's Liberals a new majority mandate Thursday night. Wynne, who pledged during her campaign for the Liberal leadership in 2012 to name herself as minister of agriculture for at least a year, won 59 of[...]
PEDv re-infects U.S. farm, fuels supply fears
Chicago | Reuters -- An Indiana farm has become the first to confirm publicly it suffered a second outbreak of a deadly pig virus, fueling concerns that a disease that has wiped out 10 per cent of the U.S. hog population will be harder to contain than producers and veterinarians expected. The farm, through its[...]
U.S. hog report does little to calm PEDv fears
U.S. data showing a surprisingly large late-summer hog herd has done little to quell fears in rural America that a virus deadly to baby piglets could spread. The U.S. livestock industry was anxiously awaiting Friday's release of the Agriculture Department's quarterly hogs and pigs report on the nation's swine inventory over the past three months,[...]
Former Manitoba ag minister Harry Enns, 78
Harry Enns, a former rancher and Manitoba's agriculture minister in Gary Filmon's administration during the 1990s, died Thursday at age 78. Enns, a provincial politician for 37 years, represented the Lakeside riding north of Winnipeg in the province's Interlake region, including the communities of Teulon and Stonewall. He first came to the legislature in what[...]
Alberta Liberals' ag critic crosses floor
Alberta's provincial Liberal caucus has lost its agriculture, rural development and municipal affairs critic to the governing Tories. Bridget Pastoor, the MLA for Lethbridge East since 2004, announced her decision Monday at an Edmonton press conference alongside Premier Alison Redford, who described Pastoor as a "dedicated and hard-working representative for her constituents." Pastoor, 71, had[...]
RCMP seek cattle auctioneer's alleged abductor
A suspect in what's alleged to be a botched abduction of prominent Alberta livestock auctioneer Blair Vold has been seen on candid cameras. RCMP at Ponoka, Alta., north of Red Deer, on Monday released new colour photos of a man allegedly trying to use Vold's bank card at a CIBC branch at nearby Wetaskiwin. The[...]
Former Ont. ag critic Murdoch won't run again
Ontario Tory MPP and rural affairs critic Bill Murdoch has announced he won't seek re-election next year. When election time comes, provincial Tory leader Tim Hudak said Monday, the Ontario legislature "will lose one of its most tenacious members, a true maverick and a long-standing champion of rural and agricultural Ontario." First elected in 1990[...]
Ont. Greenbelt not saving livestock operations: study
For a protected area that was meant to preserve southern Ontario's farmland and agriculture, the Greenbelt doesn't seem to have done the job for livestock producers, a new study suggests. It shouldn't surprise anyone that "traditional" livestock operations, such as dairy, beef and hog farms, have experienced a decline throughout Ontario since 2001. But the[...]
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
