(Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Chicken, dairy farmers rip TPP concessions

Reading Time: 3 minutes Updated, Jan. 25, 2018 — Canada’s supply-managed producer groups warn that the new Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade deal stands to chip away unnecessarily at their markets. Chicken Farmers of Canada on Wednesday said the CPTPP deal, on which Canada pledged Tuesday it will sign in March, still includes concessions on market access […] Read more

(CBSA-asfc.gc.ca)

Canada unveils ideas to save NAFTA

Reading Time: 3 minutes Montreal | Reuters — Canadian negotiators at the NAFTA talks on Wednesday unveiled ideas to address contentious U.S. demands for revamping the 1994 pact while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged top U.S. executives to back free trade. The sixth and penultimate round of negotiations to update the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) opened in […] Read more


(Video screengrab from CBSA-asfc.gc.ca)

Key round of NAFTA talks opens amid upbeat signs

Reading Time: 2 minutes Montreal | Reuters — Officials opened a key round of negotiations to modernize NAFTA on Tuesday amidst optimistic signs, as U.S. President Donald Trump said the talks were going “pretty well” and Canada’s chief negotiator said he had high hopes for progress. Trump’s remarks helped the Mexican peso stem its losses, a reflection of how […] Read more

(PortMetroVancouver.com)

Canada in on TPP pact, to be signed in March

Reading Time: 3 minutes Tokyo | Reuters — Eleven countries aiming to forge a Asia-Pacific trade pact after the U.S. pulled out of an earlier version will sign an agreement in Chile in March, Japan’s economy minister said on Tuesday. Trade officials had been meeting in Tokyo to resolve rifts including Canada’s insistence on protections for its cultural industries […] Read more


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks Aug. 23, 2017 at a Montreal charity event. (PM.gc.ca)

Trudeau to boost support for NAFTA in U.S. as talks intensify

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa | Reuters –– Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will visit three major U.S. cities next month to bolster support for NAFTA as negotiators revising the trade pact tackle major differences, officials said on Friday. The timing of Trudeau’s Feb. 7-10 trip is significant, since it comes after a sixth and penultimate round of talks […] Read more

Dairy Farmers of Ontario CEO Graham Lloyd says dairy marketing activities need to show that they can build the market for milk. (John Greig photo)

Ontario’s dairy farmers ramp up own marketing

Reading Time: 2 minutes Dairy Farmers of Ontario is starting to build its own consumer marketing department, now that it’s retaining marketing funds collected from farmers and no longer sending tens of millions of dollars to Dairy Farmers of Canada. What does it mean? Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s withdrawal from national marketing of milk has meant upheaval at Dairy […] Read more


(Ville.montreal.qc.ca)

Montreal round of NAFTA talks extended to Jan. 29

Reading Time: < 1 minute Mexico City | Reuters — The upcoming round of talks in Montreal to update the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will be extended by one day and will now conclude Jan. 29, Canadian and Mexican sources told Reuters on Thursday. Trade negotiators from the U.S., Canada and Mexico were originally scheduled to meet from […] Read more

Pierre Lampron, president of Valacta and Dairy Farmers of Canada. (John Greig photo)

Dairy organizations partner to manage risk

Reading Time: 3 minutes A partnership among Canadian dairy service provider organizations should help position Canadian producers to take advantage of rapidly changing technology and make the sector more efficient, the groups say. Why does it matter? The number of Canadian dairy farmers continues to drop and the need for more efficient services is growing as the price of […] Read more


(HortCouncil.ca)

Ottawa tightens rules on housing foreign farm workers

Reading Time: 2 minutes Housing meant for temporary foreign workers employed on a Canadian farm will now have to pass regular inspection before the farm can hire its workers. One of the requirements for farms hiring temporary foreign workers (TFWs) is that the farm provide workers with “adequate, suitable and affordable housing as defined by the Canadian Mortgage and […] Read more

(CBSA-asfc.gc.ca)

Canada welcomes Trump suggestion of NAFTA deadline extension

Reading Time: < 1 minute London, Ont. | Reuters — Canada welcomes the suggestion by U.S. President Donald Trump that the deadline for concluding talks to modernize NAFTA could be extended beyond the end of March, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters on Friday. Trump told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday that “a lot of things are hard to […] Read more