Bunge’s refined and specialty oils segment turned in stronger quarterly earnings in the Americas and Europe.  Photo: Thinkstock

Crop merchant Bunge raises full-year profit outlook

Reading Time: < 1 minute Agricultural commodities trader Bunge Ltd BG.N on Wednesday raised its full-year earnings outlook after posting an adjusted third-quarter profit that topped expectations, sending its shares up about 2 per cent in premarket trading. The improved forecast was attributed to favorable market conditions as tight global crop supplies and strong demand have benefited supply chain middlemen […] Read more

Photo: Thinkstock

China to step up investment in rural infrastructure

Reading Time: < 1 minute Beijing | Reuters – China will accelerate investment in rural infrastructure to improve its ability to ensure food supply while also stabilizing the economy, according to a plan published by the agriculture ministry on Tuesday. The plan, backed by eight ministries and government agencies, comes amid slowing growth in the world’s second-biggest economy, due to […] Read more


File photo of the produce section at a Canadian grocery store. (FatCamera/E+/Getty Images)

Competition Bureau to probe soaring food prices

Retail food prices seen outpacing inflation

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Canada’s competition watchdog said on Monday it would examine factors impacting soaring food prices and whether more competition in the grocery stores sector could help lower costs for Canadians. Price rises for store-bought food have been outpacing the broader annual inflation rate for 10 consecutive months, and grew 11.4 per cent in September, […] Read more

Nate Horner, shown here speaking Oct. 4, 2022 at Southland Trailers at Lethbridge, was named Oct. 21 as Alberta’s minister of agriculture and irrigation. (Alberta government video screengrab via YouTube)

Alberta reorganizes ag portfolio for returning minister

Horner to handle agriculture and irrigation file

Reading Time: 2 minutes Both Alberta and Quebec have re-upped with their incumbent agriculture ministers in cabinet shuffles this week — but incoming Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s shuffle will also streamline that province’s ag portfolio. Chosen by Alberta’s governing United Conservatives (UCP) on Oct. 6 to replace outgoing premier Jason Kenney, Smith on Friday announced Kenney’s incumbent minister of […] Read more


An office of a 50-hectare rice farm is submerged in floodwater from the Benue river at Makurdi in central Nigeria on Oct. 1 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde)

Nigeria’s flooding spreads to Delta, upending lives, livelihoods

Over a million acres of farmland damaged, wrecked

Reading Time: 2 minutes Rivers State, Nigeria | Reuters — People wade through fast-flowing water, holding one another to avoid being swept away, balancing suitcases, clothing and food on their heads. The torrent was, until recently, the East-West Road in Nigeria’s Rivers state, the gateway to the nation’s oil and gas. Now parts of Rivers, along with large swathes […] Read more

(Sollio Co-operative Group video screengrab via YouTube)

Pork packer Olymel laying off dozens of managers

Market unpredictability, 'growth challenges' cited

Reading Time: 2 minutes Major Canadian pork and poultry packer Olymel has laid off 57 people from its management ranks and eliminated another 120 administrative positions, citing the company’s current “market context and growth challenges.” Olymel, the meat packing arm of Quebec-based Sollio Cooperative Group, said Tuesday its affected employees were notified Monday and have received their layoff notices. […] Read more


In 2020, the Teerling family — Christiane, Jan, and their sons Ian, 20, and Cedric, 13 — transported their whole farm, including their Clydesdale, in shipping containers from Germany to Canada.

Farms from away!

They’re an eclectic bunch, these farmers rushing to Atlantic Canada for its affordable farmland. They’re dreamers, yet they’re realists too, and they’ve all got success in mind

Reading Time: 15 minutes We always wanted to milk cows, but we never thought it would ever happen,” Kevin Conroy remembers. “The land prices in Ontario just went up and up and up.” Then, one day a decade ago, Kevin and wife Diana, who worked 103 acres in Ontario, were out for a Sunday drive and they saw a […] Read more

Cows that were stranded in a flooded barn at Abbotsford, B.C. are rescued on Nov. 16, 2021 by people in boats and on a jet-ski after rainstorms lashed the province, triggering landslides and floods and shutting highways. (File photo: Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters)

Drought-stricken B.C. bracing for floods when rains return

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — British Columbia on Thursday warned residents to prepare for flooding when rains eventually return after a prolonged drought exacerbated by climate change that has raised concerns about long-term damage to ecosystems ranging from glaciers to salmon rivers. The usually rainy western province has experienced weeks of record-breaking warm fall temperatures and minimal precipitation […] Read more


Conservative agriculture critic John Barlow speaks Nov. 24, 2021 in the House of Commons. (Screengrab from supplied video)

Barlow remains ag critic in Conservatives’ new shadow cabinet

Poilievre also names two associate critics for ag file

Reading Time: 2 minutes The federal Conservatives’ point person on agriculture will remain at that post under the party’s new leader. John Barlow, MP for the southwestern Alberta riding of Foothills, was named Wednesday as the Conservatives’ “shadow minister” for agriculture, agri-food and food security. Pierre Poilievre, who was named Sept. 10 as the official opposition party’s new leader, […] Read more

File photo of a Conagra production facility at Oakdale, Calif., about 150 km east of San Francisco, on Dec, 18, 2015. (Photo: Reuters/Fred Greaves)

Conagra tops profit, sales estimates even as consumers turn thrifty

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Conagra Brands beat quarterly sales and profit estimates on Thursday, boosted by higher prices for its Marie Callender’s and Slim Jim brands even as consumer demand wanes under the weight of decades-high inflation. Global food companies have been increasing prices over the past year to shield profit margins, which have been squeezed by […] Read more