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Four-way Seeds Canada merger approved

Four organizations to amalgamate in February without CSGA on board

Reading Time: 3 minutes A merger of four Canadian seed industry organizations has been cleared to proceed without its fifth partner. Members of the Canadian Plant Technology Agency (CPTA), Commercial Seed Analysts Association of Canada (CSAAC), Canadian Seed Institute (CSI) and Canadian Seed Trade Association (CSTA) have voted in favour of amalgamation, the groups announced Wednesday. An inaugural board […] Read more

The seed sector, particularly cereals, needs reinvestment in breeding, hence the drive to establish Seeds Canada.

Is a united seed sector possible in Canada?

Finding modernization, value creation and synergy in a streamlined seeds agency

Reading Time: 7 minutes In spite of the size of agriculture in Canada, its home-grown seed industry is relatively small. Wheat and canola represent our two largest commodities by area, yet the domestic share of research and plant breeding activity is underwhelming. In part, that’s linked to the fact that the seed sector is comprised of a variety of […] Read more


U.S.-based Impossible Foods, whose Impossible Burger is shown here on display at U.S. grocery chain Wegmans, launched the product at Canadian retail in late October 2020, selling exclusively at Sobeys stores until February 2021. (ImpossibleFoods.com)

CFIA to consult on new near-meat, non-meat guidelines

Clarity for labels, promotion, composition to be considered

Reading Time: 3 minutes “Greater clarity” in federal guidelines for the makeup and labels of “simulated” meat and poultry products is the end zone for a new round of consultations underway for the next month. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Tuesday announced the launch for the public consultation, which includes an online survey and runs until Dec. 3. […] Read more

Chickpeas. (CalypsoArt/iStock/Getty Images)

Pulse weekly outlook: Chickpea production expected up in 2021

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Following an expected 11.4 per cent drop in Saskatchewan’s chickpea harvest this year, provincial pulse specialist Dale Risula is expecting an increase in 2021. In Statistics Canada’s most recent field crop report, issued last week, chickpea production in Saskatchewan was estimated to have dropped from 224,600 tonnes in 2019 to 199,010 tonnes this […] Read more


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Pulse weekly outlook: Chickpea prices steady into harvest

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — The chickpea harvest is underway in some areas of the Prairies, including southern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan, where pulse crops were planted earlier due to drier spring weather. So far, the chickpea crop has seen co-operative weather conditions. “As we go along with this sunshine and heat, the pulses are coming in very […] Read more

Chickpeas. (CalypsoArt/iStock/Getty Images)

Pulse weekly outlook: Chickpea market under pressure

Current crop up against disease issues

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Lost demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic is keeping pressure on the Canadian chickpea market, despite disease issues causing problems for nearly a third of the country’s crop, according to an industry source. After disease caused problems for chickpeas in some areas of southern Saskatchewan in 2019, the radius of the problem area […] Read more


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Pulse weekly outlook: Good year for Alberta pulses, except in northern regions

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm – Pulse crops are doing quite well in most of Alberta, according to the province’s agriculture department. However in the Peace River and northwest regions, the story has been much different. “This year, crop conditions are better than the five-year average in both the south and central regions. In the northern region, excess moisture […] Read more

Chickpeas. (CalypsoArt/iStock/Getty Images)

Pulse weekly outlook: Chickpeas recover from previous lows

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Chickpea prices have recovered slightly from lows hit around the end of 2019, but they’re still a long way off historic highs from years past. Ahead of the 2018 growing season, chickpea prices were around 50 to 60 cents/lb. for growers, according to Darwin Hamilton of Kalshea Commodities in Winnipeg. Currently, large chickpea […] Read more


Chickpeas. (CalypsoArt/iStock/Getty Images)

Pulse weekly outlook: Chickpea acreage expected lower

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — High global prices in the 2017-18 marketing year caused a global spike in chickpea production in 2018. It’s since taken a while for consumers to “chew through supplies,” which has put pressure on prices, according to Chuck Penner of LeftField Commodities. In a kabuli chickpea global outlook webinar hosted by the Global Pulse […] Read more

Demand may encourage more red lentil acres: AGT

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Improving lentil prices over the past month may encourage more acres of the pulse crop in Western Canada this spring, according to an industry official, as seeding is set to start within the next few weeks. “With the recent March demand surge, mostly due to COVID-19, pulse prices have increased sending a signal […] Read more