An information label is seen on packaging for a CO2 cylinder for a fizzy drinks machine in Manchester, Britain on Sept. 20, 2021. (Photo: Reuters)/Phil Noble)

Britain tells its food industry to prepare for CO2 price shock

U.K. pays fertilizer maker CF Industries to reopen plants

Reading Time: 3 minutes London | Reuters — Britain warned its food producers on Wednesday to prepare for a 400 per cent rise in carbon dioxide prices after extending emergency state support to avert a shortage of poultry and meat triggered by soaring costs of wholesale natural gas. Natural gas prices have spiked this year as economies reopened from […] Read more

Parking lot signage outside an advance polling station in Winnipeg’s Tuxedo Industrial area on Sept. 12, 2021. (Dave Bedard photo)

Federal agriculture minister leading on election night

CPC, NDP ag critics prevail; BQ critic in tight race

Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada’s incumbent agriculture minister was among the MPs expected to hold onto their seats in Monday’s snap federal election, in which Justin Trudeau’s Liberals return with a second minority government. As of Tuesday morning just after midnight CT, Marie-Claude Bibeau was leading in her Sherbrooke, Que.-area riding of Compton-Stanstead by a spread of over 3,300 […] Read more


(Flax Council of Canada photo)

Supply/demand pushing up flax prices

Reading Time: 2 minutes Corrected, Sept. 23 — MarketsFarm — Prices for flax have skyrocketed in 2021, as the amount to be harvested has fallen while demand has increased, according to Dale McManus of Johnston’s Seeds at Welwyn, Sask. Johnston’s was paying $38 per bushel for golden flax picked up off of the farm, he said, and brown flax […] Read more

An information label is seen on packaging for a CO2 cylinder for a fizzy drinks machine in Manchester, Britain on Sept. 20, 2021. (Photo: Reuters)/Phil Noble)

U.K. meat industry warns of threat to supplies from CO2 crisis

CO2 shortage is caused by closure of fertilizer plants

Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — Some of Britain’s meat processors will run out of carbon dioxide (CO2) within five days, forcing them to halt production and impacting supplies to food retailers, the head of the industry’s lobby group warned on Monday. A jump in gas prices has forced several domestic energy suppliers out of business and […] Read more


(CPR.ca)

CP, Kansas City lock in new deal as CN steps out

More efficient flow of grain, perishables, machinery parts touted

Reading Time: 3 minutes Canadian Pacific Railway and U.S. railway Kansas City Southern on Wednesday again formalized their engagement after competing suitor Canadian National Railway walked away from the table. CP and KCS, which reported “unanimous” support from both companies’ boards, have entered a merger agreement committing CP to pay about $31 billion in cash and stock, or about […] Read more

For the Voglers, distributors mean they can focus on the crops that work best for their land and business.

The deal with food distributors

By connecting with distributors, ambitious small farms are leapfrogging their way into bigger markets. Is this an opportunity for mainstream farms too?

Reading Time: 7 minutes At peak operation, Andrew Vogler was growing 50 different varieties of vegetables, selling at nine different farmers markets around Abbottsford, B.C., and delivering vegetable boxes to 200 customers in the lower mainland. In other words, his produce farm was a lot like a lot of other startups — a lot of energy was going in […] Read more


Louis Dreyfus’ oilseed processing plant at Yorkton, Sask. (LDC.com)

Louis Dreyfus completes stake sale to ADQ

Deal includes long-term supply line to UAE

Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — Louis Dreyfus Co. (LDC) said on Friday it had completed the sale of a 45 per cent indirect stake to Abu Dhabi holding firm ADQ, marking the arrival of the first non-family shareholder in the agricultural commodity group’s 170-year history. The overall value of the deal was not disclosed but LDC […] Read more

lab meat

The rise of the new food engineers

Guide Books Review: The biggest threat to your farm isn’t commodity prices or interest rates. It’s science, and what’s going on in these labs

Reading Time: 3 minutes Rethinking Food and Agriculture 2020-2030: The Second Domestication of Plants and Animals, the Disruption of the Cow, and the Collapse of Industrial Livestock FarmingBy Catherine Tubb and Tony Seba How will agriculture, society and the environment be impacted by the onset of intense and broad disruption? It’s way more than COVID-19. Take a big breath […] Read more


CBOT December 2021 oats (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (yellow, brown and black lines). (Barchart)

Tight supplies underpin oat bids with demand rationing expected

Reading Time: < 1 minute Corrected, Sept. 3 — MarketsFarm — Canadian oat prices should remain well supported over the next year given the smaller crop, but some demand will likely back away as buyers look for cheaper alternatives. While most of his customers were still taking delivery on existing contracts and not yet in the spot market, Ryan McKnight […] Read more

Nova Scotia Agriculture Minister Greg Morrow. (PCPartyNS.ca)

Rookie Nova Scotia MLA named agriculture minister

Greg Morrow sworn in Tuesday

Reading Time: 2 minutes A radio news director from eastern Nova Scotia has been tapped as the provincial agriculture minister for incoming Premier Tim Houston’s Progressive Conservatives. Greg Morrow, the new MLA for Guysborough-Tracadie, was sworn in Tuesday along with the other members of Houston’s 19-member cabinet. Houston’s Tories ousted Iain Rankin’s Liberal government in the Aug. 17 provincial […] Read more