Reading Time: 2 minutes Facing “requests from stakeholders,” the Canadian Grain Commission has granted them a 12-week extension on its deadline for comments on plans to license feed mills, producer car loading sites and grain agents. The deadline, previously June 3, is now Aug. 31, the commission said in a release Friday. Input is being sought from producer railway […] Read more
Window open wider for comment on CGC licensing moves
Guenther: Seeding in home stretch for dry NW Saskatchewan
Reading Time: 2 minutes Seeding is drawing to a close in northwestern Saskatchewan, largely due to warm, dry weather this month. On average, seeding in the northwest was over half done early in the week, according to the latest Saskatchewan Crop Report. Provincially, farmers are 51 per cent done, putting them miles ahead of the five-year average of 28 […] Read more
U.S. study finds no risks to people, planet in GMOs
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s time for the task of regulating new crop varieties to focus on plants’ characteristics rather than on how the plants were developed, a team of U.S. scientists recommends in a new report. A study committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine on Tuesday released an “extensive” study of genetically engineered crops, finding […] Read more
Flax industry fighting to regain lost acres
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — After losing ground to pulses this year, a flax industry group is working on ways to be competitive going forward. “It’s the year of the pulses, and certainly growers are taking advantage of good prices for pulses,” said Don Kerr, president at the Flax Council of Canada, referring to the United Nations […] Read more
‘Severe’ grasshopper numbers loom over northern Alberta
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada –– A mild winter and a warm, dry spring have created some favourable hatching conditions for grasshoppers in Alberta, with the possibility of a severe outbreak in some areas. According to Mark Cutts, a crop specialist with Alberta Agriculture in Stettler, higher numbers of grasshoppers lie in a region northwest of Edmonton. Beyond […] Read more
Richardson books record port handle during expansion
Reading Time: 2 minutes Prairie grain firm Richardson International has wrapped up construction of a major new expansion at its Port Metro Vancouver export terminal and reported a record grain handle for the year while doing so. The Winnipeg company on Tuesday reported its North Vancouver terminal shipped 5.2 million tonnes of grain and oilseeds in 2015, which it […] Read more
Ottawa seeks feedback ahead of Growing Forward sequel
Reading Time: 2 minutes The federal government has set up a new web-based questionnaire to gather farmer and industry feedback on the Growing Forward 2 (GF2) ag policy funding framework as it develops the next framework. The next agricultural policy funding framework is due to launch April 1, 2018, the government said in a release Monday. The first phase […] Read more
Canada, U.S. to collaborate on food safety controls
Reading Time: 2 minutes Food safety officials in Canada and the U.S. have formally recognized each other’s respective food safety controls under a cross-border co-operation pact. The two countries last week announced their new food safety systems recognition arrangement, reached during meetings of the Canada-U.S. Regulatory Co-operation Council (RCC) held Wednesday and Thursday in Washington, D.C. The two countries […] Read more
Glencore in talks to sell further stake in ag unit
Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — Commodity trader and miner Glencore is in talks to sell a further 9.9 per cent stake in its agricultural unit, negotiating with bidders that missed out on the 40 per cent sold to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), two sources with knowledge of the matter said. Glencore, whose ag […] Read more
StatsCan report confirms tightening canola, wheat supplies
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — Canadian canola and wheat supplies are much tighter heading into the final months of the 2015-16 crop year than they were at the same point a year ago, according to Statistics Canada’s latest stocks report. StatsCan pegged the country’s canola stocks, as of March 31, at 7.49 million tonnes in its report […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
