Reading Time: 3 minutes The federal government’s 2021 budget offers up new spending to support farmers combatting climate change through targeted investments — and, in some cases, direct payments. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland released the budget Monday, showing the majority of new spending will take place over three years and be largely focused on “green growth.” “Budget 2021 announces […] Read more
Federal budget to offer direct payments to farmers for carbon pricing
Other new 'green growth' funding also on deck
Conservatives’ new climate plan puts price on carbon
New poll ranks carbon tax costs highest among farmers' springtime concerns
Reading Time: 4 minutes Canada’s ag sector is expected to serve as a carbon sink, a renewable fuel source and a beneficiary in the federal Conservative Party’s new climate change plan — which now includes putting a price on carbon. Party leader Erin O’Toole announced the new plan Thursday — after a long campaign of vehemently opposing such policy. […] Read more
Prairies hit hard by drought
Parts of south-central, southwestern Manitoba among driest
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — A new nationwide drought map released by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Canadian Drought Monitor (CDM) shows just how dry conditions are in the Prairies, especially in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Areas in southern Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan have experienced at least six months of drought conditions, according to CDM’s drought assessment as of March […] Read more
Health Canada steps back from bans on two neonics
New limits, some cancellations to be put in place
Reading Time: 5 minutes A federal proposal to protect aquatic insect habitat by cancelling all registered outdoor uses for two popular ag insecticides has been walked back in a major way. Health Canada on Wednesday announced its special review decisions on the risks to aquatic bug life from the use of clothianidin and thiamethoxam, both pesticides and seed treatments […] Read more
Quebec to reduce onus for farm workers seeking workers’ comp for Parkinson’s
Amended rule would grant 'presumption' for pesticide exposure
Reading Time: 2 minutes Some Quebec farmers and farm workers with Parkinson’s disease may soon have an easier path to seek workers’ compensation — if they can show at least a certain amount of exposure to pesticides. Provincial Labour Minister Jean Boulet on Tuesday tabled an amendment to bill 59, draft legislation that includes updates to Quebec’s workplace health […] Read more
Getting to the dream
A real-life story of making a non-family farm transition work, including all the time, the effort, the talking and the satisfaction
Reading Time: 9 minutes About 15 years ago, Bob and Sharon McCoubrey were facing a dilemma. Bob’s body was telling him it was time to give up his orchard and vegetable farm in British Columbia’s Okanagan. It was time for the next phase of their lives, but past experience had left a bitter taste in their mouths. “We were […] Read more
McCormick brings French’s ketchup processing in-house
Club House spice maker expands London, Ont. plant
Reading Time: 2 minutes The firm behind the French’s ketchup brand is bringing its bottling of the product to its own plant in southwestern Ontario. McCormick Canada, the Canadian arm of Baltimore-area condiment and spice maker McCormick and Co., on Monday announced it had completed a “multi-million dollar expansion” at its London, Ont. plant to blend, bottle and package […] Read more
Top court upholds federal carbon pricing policy
Farm groups, fearing unsustainable costs, press for next steps
Reading Time: 3 minutes Calgary/Ottawa | Reuters — Canada’s Supreme Court ruled in favour of the federal government’s carbon pricing policy on Thursday, upholding a central pillar of Prime Minister Justin’s Trudeau’s climate plan and infuriating some provinces that opposed it. The country’s top court said climate change is a threat to Canada as a whole and upheld the […] Read more
Ag ministers withdraw AgriStability reference margin limit
Program's compensation rate unchanged but 'remains on table'
Reading Time: 4 minutes In a move expected to provide $95 million in additional farm support per year, Canada’s ag ministers have agreed to remove the reference margin limit from the AgriStability farm income stabilization program. “That’s it! The ‘reference margin limit’ of the #AgriStability program is over! And it will be retroactive to 2020!” federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude […] Read more
Growing that bright red berry
Guide Canada: Along the south shore of the St. Lawrence, an incredible fusion of the Old World and the New came together in 1981, and it’s still making waves today
Reading Time: 8 minutes When he was eight years old, Marc Bieler knew that when he grew up, he would be a farmer. What he didn’t know was that his road to fame and fortune would be paved with little red berries. Today, Bieler Cranberries Inc. is the largest single-site cranberry farm in Canada producing up to 40 million […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
