Food security is an issue in this election for 54 per cent of Canadians. (FatCamera/E+/Getty Images)

Food, farming not expected to be big election issues

Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadians don’t think that food and agriculture will be a significant issue in the current federal election. A survey conducted Sept. 9 and released Tuesday by Angus Reid Global with the support of Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab shows 31 per cent of Canadians believe food and agriculture will be a prime electoral issue during […] Read more



(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Funds’ canola short position up, for now

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Fund traders added to their large net short position in canola during the week ended Tuesday (Sept. 10), according to the latest commitment of traders (CoT) report from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The net managed money short position in canola came in Tuesday at 73,025, an increase of about 7,000 […] Read more

(ThamKC/iStock/Getty Images)

Trump backs plan boosting biofuel quotas 10 per cent in 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes New York | Reuters — U.S. President Donald Trump has tentatively approved a plan to increase the amount of biofuels that oil refiners are required to blend each year to compensate for exemptions handed out to small refiners by the Environmental Protection Agency, two sources familiar with the matter said. The plan is intended to […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Statistics Canada boosts crop production estimates

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Updated model-based production estimates on Thursday from Statistics Canada expect larger yields for most of the major crops grown in the country — and while harvest operations are still ongoing, the actual crops may end up larger still. “All of the numbers are bigger, whether it’s durum, spring wheat, canola,” said analyst Mike […] Read more

ICE November 2019 canola with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Canola breaks out of week-long funk

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — It’s unclear yet what effect Thursday’s satellite field crop estimates from Statistics Canada will have on markets. Canola broke out of a six-day funk Wednesday, trending just slightly higher for the first time since Wednesday last week. Technical biases remain to the downside, as prices hover around contract lows. “There are a lot […] Read more


(Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)

Frost strikes in numerous spots in Manitoba

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Numerous areas throughout the growing areas of Manitoba experienced frost, according to the province’s crop report for the week ended Monday. The coldest locations were Sprague in the eastern region, Narcisse in the Interlake and Lake Audy in the southwest, which experienced temperatures of -2 C on Sept. 8. Many other areas saw […] Read more

Bean burgers made with canola protein powder at Burcon's alternative meats protein lab in Winnipeg on Aug. 23, 2019.

Big Ag wants a cut of booming fake-meat market

Reading Time: 4 minutes Winnipeg/Chicago | Reuters — Bunge, one the world’s biggest grain traders, recently disclosed the 1.6 per cent stake it had purchased in the fast-growing fake-meat startup Beyond Meat. The play looked smart after the stock surged more than 250 per cent since the faux burger and sausage maker’s initial public offering in May. Indeed, Beyond […] Read more


Manitoba’s agriculture minister Ralph Eichler, shown here at an Aug. 27 pre-election forum hosted by the Manitoba Farm Writers and Broadcasters Association, easily held his riding of Lakeside in the Sept. 10 provincial election. (Manitoba Co-operator photo by Geralyn Wichers)

Ag minister returned, ag critic downed in Manitoba vote

Reading Time: 2 minutes Manitoba’s Progressive Conservatives easily kept their agriculture minister while hanging onto a marginally slimmer majority government in Tuesday’s provincial election. Ralph Eichler, the Tories’ ag minister since 2016 and the MLA for the Interlake-area constituency of Lakeside since 2003, defeated New Democrat challenger Dan Rugg of Elie on Tuesday night by a spread of 4,340 […] Read more

Clubroot galls on a canola plant. (Video screengrab from Canola Council of Canada via YouTube)

Clubroot able to beat resistant canola reaches Manitoba

Reading Time: 3 minutes A strain of clubroot able to club the roots of some resistant canola varieties has made its way east to Manitoba. Manitoba’s agriculture department reported Friday that clubroot pathotype 3A — a strain that can “overcome some first-generation sources of genetic resistance” in commercial canola — has been positively identified in the south-central rural municipality […] Read more