Strip steak with mushrooms. (Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Beef trade gap seen growing as U.K. pact clears Parliament

Interim post-Brexit trade deal gets royal assent

Reading Time: 3 minutes Canada’s beef cattle producers are warning of a growing beef trade deficit, not only between Canada and the European Union but between Canada and the United Kingdom, as a new stopgap U.K. trade pact nears its launch. International Trade Minister Mary Ng on Friday announced Canada is ratifying the Canada-U.K. Trade Continuity Agreement (TCA), after […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Farmland appreciation continues through pandemic year

FCC report puts Canada's average land value increase at 5.4 per cent

Reading Time: 3 minutes Economic churn across Canada from the global COVID-19 pandemic didn’t faze the country’s real estate market — nor its farmland market in particular — in 2020, according to the latest review from the federal farm lending agency. Farm Credit Canada on Monday released its 2020 Farmland Values report, showing an average increase of 5.4 per […] Read more


A Western blot analysis, used to detect specific proteins in tissue samples, is used to confirm BSE in cattle. (Peggy Greb photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Canada clears step toward ‘negligible risk’ BSE status

OIE delegates to vote in late May, CFIA says

Reading Time: 3 minutes The international committee that reviews countries’ requests for animal health status on specific diseases has called for Canada to level up on its status for BSE. The Scientific Commission of the OIE (World Organization for Animal Health), which last met virtually over Feb. 1-12, has recommended to OIE delegates that Canada’s application seeking “negligible risk” […] Read more

“Culinary tourism starts with a base ingredient… agriculture.” – Rebecca Mackenzie.

The open road of culinary tourism

Rebecca Mackenzie sits exactly at the midpoint between farmers and consumers. Can she help bring everyone together?

Reading Time: 6 minutes [UPDATED: Mar. 23, 2021] The past year has shone a sometimes not very flattering light on Canada’s ailing food system, but it has also revealed new challenges and exciting opportunities to bring about long overdue changes for the farming and foodservice industry. For Rebecca Mackenzie, president and CEO of the Culinary Tourism Alliance, it’s time […] Read more


Workers prepare foodstuffs at a food distribution centre supported by the World Food Program at Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, on June 3, 2020. File photo: Reuters/Khaled Abdullah

U.N. counts cost of ‘man-made’ famines

US$400 for a plate of rice and beans?

Reading Time: 2 minutes New York | Reuters — Nearly 30 years ago a malnourished two-year-old girl died in front of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield at a refugee camp in northern Uganda. Two days ago U.N. food chief David Beasley met a starving five-month-old girl at a hospital in Yemen — she died on Thursday. […] Read more

Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, with Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna (l) and Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault (r), speaks at the Dominion Arboretum in Ottawa on Dec. 11, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Blair Gable)

No credit expected for farmers’ past work in new carbon market

Work on protocols for specific projects to begin this spring, department says

Reading Time: 3 minutes Draft regulations for Canada’s new carbon market show Canadian farmers won’t receive credit for removing any greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from the atmosphere prior to 2017. Federal Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson on Friday announced the offset market, to be known as the Federal Greenhouse Gas Offset System. A 60-day public consultation period on draft regulations […] Read more


File photo of Highway 363 near Moose Jaw, Sask. (Mysticenergy/iStock/Getty Images)

Spring road bans coming into effect across Prairies

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Warming temperatures and melting snow across Western Canada may cause some disruptions to grain and livestock movement over the next few weeks as seasonal spring road restrictions come into effect across the Prairies. The annual spring road restrictions set axle weight limits for vehicles moving on certain roads in an effort to reduce […] Read more

(GZKele/iStock/Getty Images)

Sunflower seed market falls back to Earth

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Sunflower growers in Canada took off a bumper crop in 2020, almost hitting the 100,000-tonne mark for the first time since 2010. The forecast for this year’s crop isn’t as sunny. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s latest outlook, released earlier this month, predicts the national sunflower seed crop in 2021 at 75,000 tonnes off […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Beef cattle sector weighs in for federal food processing study

Cattlemen's Association makes recommendations to Commons' ag committee

Reading Time: 2 minutes The House of Commons’ standing committee on agriculture will soon be wrapping up its study into Canada’s processing capacity. Since November, MPs have heard from more than 50 witnesses on the matter — including representatives from the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, whose president Bob Lowe and executive vice-president Dennis Laycraft testified at a committee meeting Tuesday. […] Read more

(ArdentMills.com)

Major flour miller to buy U.S. chickpea processor

Ardent Mills to take up Hinrichs Trading Co.

Reading Time: 2 minutes Major North American flour miller Ardent Mills is expanding its reach into pulse-based ingredients with a deal to buy U.S. chickpea processor Hinrichs Trading Co. The two companies said they “expect the deal will help customers bring innovative products to market to meet growing consumer demand for plant-based and specialty ingredients.” Terms of the deal […] Read more