Reading Time: 4 minutes Washington/Mexico City | Reuters — The United States and Mexico are due to release the text of their trade agreement on Friday, increasing pressure on Canada to join its partners in revamping the North American Free Trade Agreement while Mexico’s president-elect said he would insist on a trilateral pact. President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said […] Read more
Mexican president-elect insists on trilateral NAFTA
Photo-finish election claims New Brunswick’s ag minister
Reading Time: < 1 minute New Brunswick’s incumbent agriculture minister is among the Liberal cabinet members knocked out of office in Monday night’s too-close-to-call provincial election. Final results from Elections New Brunswick put Progressive Conservative candidate Robert Gauvin ahead of Agriculture, Mines and Rural Affairs Minister Wilfred Roussel by a spread of 99 votes in his northeastern riding of Shippagan-Lameque-Miscou. […] Read more
Tories’ junior ag critic promoted in shuffle
Reading Time: < 1 minute The federal Conservatives’ associate critic for agriculture and agri-food has been shuffled into a new post in the opposition’s shadow cabinet. John Barlow, MP for the southwestern Alberta riding of Foothills, was appointed Friday as lead shadow minister for employment, workforce development and labour by party leader Andrew Scheer. In a post on Facebook, Scheer […] Read more
Prairie potatoes not expected to hit record yields again
Reading Time: 3 minutes CNS Canada – The potato acreage may have increased this year in Western Canada, but it doesn’t look like it will be the same story for yields. “I think overall it’s too early to tell because we haven’t started the main harvest, but we are not expecting as big of yield as the last couple […] Read more
Wendy’s sells stake in Arby’s owner
Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — Hamburger company Wendy’s Co. ended its decade-old ties with Arby’s as it sold its 12.3 per cent stake in the sandwich chain’s parent for US$450 million on Thursday, giving it a boost as it battles larger rivals McDonald’s and Burger King. Wendy’s will sell its stake to Inspire Brands, owned by Roark Capital, […] Read more
New GM technique promises to speed new crop development
Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada — Scientists in the United States say they have found a new method for inserting genes into crops that could speed up development of new varieties. “Making genetic improvements that were difficult or impossible before will be much easier because we can now insert not just one or two genes, but multiple genes […] Read more
German farmers seek 1 billion euros in drought aid
Reading Time: < 1 minute Hamburg | Reuters – Farmers in Germany need special aid of around 1 billion euros ($1.17 billion) because of damage to harvests caused by drought and heatwave, the head of German farming association DBV said on Monday. The aid should be paid to farmers who have lost 30 percent and more of their harvests, DBV […] Read more
UPL to buy crop chem firm Arysta
Reading Time: 2 minutes Indian chemical manufacturer UPL has raised the financial backing for an all-cash deal to become what’s expected to be the world’s fifth biggest crop chemical firm. UPL on July 20 announced it will pay $4.2 billion to buy 100 per cent of Arysta LifeScience — the maker of Everest and Inferno herbicides, among other products […] Read more
Tim Hortons to enter China
Reading Time: 3 minutes Reuters — Canadian coffee-and-donut chain Tim Hortons will open 1,500 outlets in China over the next decade, capitalizing on a growing cafe culture in the world’s second-largest economy, the chain’s parent Restaurant Brands International said on Wednesday. Restaurant Brands shares rose almost three per cent after the company announced the Tim Hortons move into China […] Read more
Interview: A taxing time for manufacturers
Ag manufacturers see uncertainty and higher production costs from steel tariffs
Reading Time: 6 minutes The opening salvos in a trade war initiated by the current U.S. administration are already having an impact on all the manufacturing sectors in Canada, the U.S and around the world, most of it negative. For example, it’s been announced that Harley Davidson, that icon of U.S. brands, feels it’s necessary to move some of […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
