Reading Time: 2 minutes A panel of 11 “external” experts from across the country has been picked to offer guidance and feedback on a federal/provincial review of farm business risk management (BRM) programming. The panel’s appointment follows an agreement by federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers back in July to launch a review of BRM programs, assessing those programs’ […] Read more
Outside panel named for farm risk management review
Canadian fast-food, dining firms plan merger
Reading Time: 3 minutes A restaurant firm with well known brands in Eastern Canada’s casual dining market is set to merge into a neighbouring firm behind the franchises populating many of Canada’s mall food courts. Montreal-based MTY Food Group announced Tuesday it has a cash-and-stock agreement in place to pick up all outstanding common shares of another Montreal firm, […] Read more
New Brunswick deputy ag minister retiring
Reading Time: < 1 minute New Brunswick’s assistant deputy minister for agriculture will act as the lead bureaucrat for agriculture in the province after the current deputy retires. Premier Brian Gallant on Wednesday named Cathy LaRochelle, assistant deputy minister for both the provincial department of agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries and the department of energy and resource development, as acting deputy […] Read more
Canada, Mexico to rebuff U.S. over NAFTA goals
Reading Time: 3 minutes Mexico City | Reuters — Canada and Mexico will rebuff the United States over its demand for tougher NAFTA automotive content rules, top officials said on Monday as negotiations to renew the treaty bogged down with only a few months to go. U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to quit NAFTA, which has reshaped the […] Read more
Trade talks a dicey situation, Coyne says
Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | CNS Canada — With Canada in the midst of negotiations for two different trade agreements, the North American Free Trade Agreement and Trans-Pacific Partnership, trade concerns are getting muddled, according to Andrew Coyne. “We need to be conscious of diversifying our trade interests beyond just North America. It would be extremely foolish that […] Read more
U.S. study links bumblebee declines to fungicide use
Reading Time: 2 minutes A new look at the environmental factors around declining bumblebee populations and ranges points to a less-than-usual suspect: fungicides. “Insecticides work; they kill insects. Fungicides have been largely overlooked because they are not targeted for insects, but fungicides may not be quite as benign — toward bumblebees — as we once thought,” Scott McArt, assistant […] Read more
Big four topics remain constant in latest Real Dirt on Farming
Reading Time: 2 minutes The latest edition of the Real Dirt on Farming is out, and it continues to be a printed copy success story in a digital world. There are more than three million copies of the agriculture information resource in print and the demand doesn’t appear to be dropping. Farm & Food Care Ontario creates the publication […] Read more
A ‘bio’ that works
Commercial use is still a couple of years away, but this bioherbicide is already raising eyebrows
Reading Time: 5 minutes When it comes to biopesticides, most researchers say that despite today’s limited selection of bio-based fungicides, insecticides and herbicides, the technology’s potential is extraordinary. Public and private scientists are especially excited by an “all natural” basis for developing new active ingredients. Since most of the elements for these biopesticides come from natural sources, they point […] Read more
La Nina could return cold, snowy tradition to Prairies
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — The world’s major weather forecasters predict a slightly better than 50 per cent chance that a La Nina weather pattern will occur this fall and winter. Most Prairie farmers could see good things happening if the system does materialize, because La Nina systems tend to bring what many people think of as […] Read more
Metro in ‘advanced’ talks to buy Jean Coutu chain
Reading Time: 2 minutes One of Eastern Canada’s major players in the grocery sector is in “advanced discussions” to take up one of the region’s major drugstore chains. Montreal-based Metro Inc. announced Tuesday it’s in “exclusive” talks with the Jean Coutu Group on the possibilities of a cash-and-stock takeover valued in some reports at around $4.5 billion. A non-binding […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
