(Dave Bedard photo)

Subway reportedly nears sale to Arby’s owner

Chain's parent firm considering sale since February

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Roark Capital, which owns restaurant chains Arby’s and Buffalo Wild Wings, is nearing a deal to buy sandwich chain Subway for about US$9.6 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. A deal could be finalized this week, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. “Subway does not intend to make any […] Read more

Soybean cyst nematode is the more familiar species affecting agricultural production.

Soybean cyst nematode survey a valued benchmark opportunity

Project will target more than SCN

Reading Time: 3 minutes The word nematode is often linked to soybean cyst nematode (SCN), and with good reason. In North America, SCN accounts for annual losses of more than $1 billion and up to $50 million in Ontario. A survey of field and horticultural crops across the province seeks to update provincial nematode distribution maps and establish baseline […] Read more


Floodwaters flow into Gower Gulch near Zabriskie Point, about 190 km west of Las Vegas, in California’s Death Valley National Park on Aug. 20, 2023. The U.S. National Park Service closed the park effective that afternoon due to moderate to heavy rainfall and flash flooding from Tropical Storm Hilary. (Death Valley National Park/National Park Service video screengrab via Facebook)

Prairie Forecast Update: Southern areas may get Hilary’s leftovers

Issued Aug. 20, covering Aug. 20-23

Reading Time: < 1 minute An interesting weather pattern is currently in place across western North America with Tropical Storm Hilary taking an unusual northerly track as it comes in off the Pacific Ocean south of California. Tropical storms or hurricanes in that region normally do one of two things: they either recurve back out into the Pacific, or move […] Read more

The McDougall Creek wildfire burns outside West Kelowna, B.C. on Aug. 18, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Chris Helgren)

B.C. wildfires intensify, evacuation orders double

Rain helping slow fires near Yellowknife

Reading Time: 3 minutes Kelowna | Reuters — Forest fires in British Columbia intensified on Saturday, with the number of people under evacuation orders doubling from a day earlier, as authorities warned of difficult days ahead. The province declared a state of emergency on Friday to access temporary authoritative powers to tackle fire-related risks, as out-of-control fires ripped through […] Read more


File photo of an Ontario cherry orchard. (UpdogDesigns/iStock/Getty Images)

Pilot plan to cut red tape for reliable TFW employers

Farm employers can apply starting next month

Reading Time: 3 minutes Canada’s temporary foreign worker (TFW) program is set to give farms a head start in an express lane expected to cut the annual paperwork for that program’s most “trusted employers.” Federal Employment and Workforce Development Minister Randy Boissonault last week launched a three-year pilot meant to “help to address labour shortages and reduce the administrative […] Read more

Vehicles leave Yellowknife on Aug. 16, 2023 on the only highway in or out of the city after a state of emergency was declared due to the proximity of wildfire. (Photo: Reuters/Pat Kane)

Prairie Forecast: Upper ridge to bring the heat

Issued Aug. 16, covering Aug. 16-23

Reading Time: 3 minutes After going through a couple of weeks of tough forecasting, with little agreement among the weather models, this forecast period is looking a little more stable with the two main weather models for our region in basic agreement. We start off this forecast with a low over Manitoba that is quickly moving east. To the […] Read more


(Alicat/iStock/Getty Images)

Prairie Forecast Update: Low to chug through mid-week

Issued Aug. 13, covering Aug. 13-16

Reading Time: < 1 minute The weather models seem to have come to an agreement on the area of low pressure forecasted to come in off the Pacific around mid-week. It looks like the energy from this system will quickly spin up an area of low pressure over north-central Alberta on Tuesday. The low will then quickly deepen and track […] Read more

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Drought Monitor map at July 31, 2023. (AAFC)

Prairie Forecast: Cooler and unsettled

Issued Aug. 9, covering Aug. 9 to 16

Reading Time: 3 minutes First off, I must apologize for not producing an update to the last forecast; I had the opportunity to do some backwoods camping, which meant I was off the grid for about five days. I’m back now, and from the weather model runs I’ve been able to check out, this forecast period is going to […] Read more


Aerial view of Centerm, a Burrard Inlet terminal for containerized cargo at the Port of Vancouver. (Bloodua/iStock/Getty Images)

B.C. longshore workers ratify new deal

Minister pledges review of 'how disruption on this scale unfolded'

Reading Time: 2 minutes Longshore workers at British Columbia’s seaports have voted to accept the terms of a new four-year labour deal, ending five weeks of labour outages at Canada’s West Coast. Negotiators with the B.C. Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) and International Labour and Warehouse Union (ILWU Canada), working with the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB), reached a new […] Read more

Wireworms have historically been a challenge when it comes to chemical control.

Wireworm survival behaviour unearthed

Wireworms travelled deep into the soil for winter, research out of Atlantic Canada found

Reading Time: 3 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Wireworms can dig deep into the soil to avoid frost and survive cold temperatures, according to research out of Prince Edward Island. Christine Noronha, an entomologist with Agriculture Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) in Charlottetown, recently studied how deep, and at what times, wireworms were on the move in the soil. There are no […] Read more