Chickpea pita.

Laying a foundation for Canada’s pulse industry

Today we know more about how to make the pulse industry grow, thanks to a decade of Cigi research

Reading Time: 3 minutes It was 10 years ago that the Canadian International Grains Institute launched its pulse-processing and specialty milling facility, and since then, Cigi’s pulse activity on behalf of the Canadian industry has leapt ahead. “There was a need in Canada to add value to pulses by processing domestically,” says Peter Frohlich, project manager for pulses and […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Elections Canada)

Election shifts attention to trade deal as race narrows

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa | Reuters –– Trailing in second place with two weeks left before Canada’s election, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a new trade deal Monday that largely protects the key agricultural voting bloc, putting pressure on opponents who had hoped to have more to attack. Harper touted the Trans-Pacific Partnership as a good deal […] Read more


(Tkeban Jahannes photo courtesy AtlantaGa.gov via Flickr)

Pacific trade ministers extend talks through Saturday

Reading Time: 2 minutes Atlanta | Reuters — Pacific trade ministers are extending talks on a free trade deal between a dozen nations through Saturday in a bid to reach a final agreement, representatives from Japan and Mexico said Thursday. Japanese Economy Minister Akira Amari said the extension on Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks in Atlanta showed ministers thought there […] Read more

(USTR.gov)

NDP would not feel bound by Pacific trade deal

Reading Time: < 1 minute Ottawa | Reuters — Canada’s main opposition party said Friday that if it won an Oct. 19 election, it would not feel bound by the terms of a major Pacific trade deal the ruling Conservatives are negotiating in the United States. The New Democrats, currently trailing third in the polls, said in a letter to […] Read more


TPP trade ministers, shown here in July in Maui, have meetings in Atlanta on Wednesday and Thursday. (USTR.gov)

TPP trade ministers push to wrap up ambitious trade deal

Reading Time: 2 minutes Atlanta | Reuters — Pacific trade ministers readied on Wednesday to close the biggest trade deal in a generation but warned there was still work to be done on issues ranging from intellectual property to trade in dairy and automobiles. Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb said ministers from the 12 countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership […] Read more

(FarmBoy Productions/AGCanada.com)

Supply management the hot button at ag debate

Reading Time: 3 minutes CNS Canada — Representatives from Canada’s five main parties met Wednesday in Ottawa to discuss and debate farm policy ranging from risk management to transportation and rural infrastructure ahead of the Oct. 19 federal election. The hot button issue of the debate, however, was Canada’s supply management systems for dairy, poultry and eggs. The topic […] Read more


(Tkeban Jahannes photo courtesy AtlantaGa.gov via Flickr)

Producer groups lobby for TPP deal in Atlanta

Reading Time: 3 minutes Several Canadian grain and livestock commodity groups have representatives in Atlanta this week pressing for federal negotiators to keep Canada in play on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Trade ministers from the 12 TPP countries — also including the U.S., Mexico, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam — are meeting in […] Read more

Winnipeg-based Legumex Walker’s pulse plants are Scoular’s first major play in the Prairie crops sector. (Dave Bedard photo)

Grain handler Scoular on hunt for more Canadian buys

Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters — U.S. crop handler The Scoular Co. is looking to acquire stakes in grain and oilseeds facilities in Western Canada, fresh off agreeing to its first major purchase in the crop-growing belt, the private company’s chief operating officer said Monday. Scoular last week agreed to pay $94 million for the special crops […] Read more


Kabuli chickpeas. (PulseCanada.com)

Chickpeas see strength in early harvest returns

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — The chickpea harvest is slowly gathering steam across Western Canada with prices holding steady, despite the harvest pressure. In Saskatchewan, where the majority of the crop lies, one industry stakeholder estimated a fifth of the crop has been combined. “Chickpeas are 20 per cent complete or just nicely underway,” said Colin Young […] Read more

(Peggy Greb photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Severe ‘food shocks’ seen more likely due to extreme weather

Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — Extreme weather such as intense storms, droughts and heatwaves will cause more frequent and severe food shortages as the global climate and food supply systems change, British and U.S. experts warned Friday. The pressure on the world’s food supplies is so great, and the increase in extreme weather events so rapid, […] Read more