Jason and Laura Kehler of Manitoba.

Building a traditional farm for a modern world

Change Makers: Yesterday’s values can still guide their farm today, Jason and Laura Kehler are discovering, but only if those values are re-engineered for efficiency, and for a new business climate

Reading Time: 8 minutes Today’s farmers are change makers. Re-inventing our farms has become normal. So Country Guide asked top ag journalists from across the country to interview farmers who excel at change, taking their farms in very different directions with an eye to finding their best opportunities. Their stories start with our January 2017 issue and will continue […] Read more

(Thinkstock photo)

Happy 2017 from Farm Business Communications

Reading Time: < 1 minute On behalf of all of us at Farm Business Communications, here in Winnipeg and across Canada, we’d like to wish you the happiest of new years and, once again, our thanks for your readership in 2016. Our office in Winnipeg closes today at noon and will reopen for regular business on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017. […] Read more


(CaseIH.com)

Syngenta, DuPont patent new herbicide chemistry class

Reading Time: 2 minutes The crop chemical arms of DuPont and Syngenta are working together on a new class of herbicide chemistry they’ve jointly patented and taken to the “pre-development” stage. DuPont Crop Protection and Syngenta announced Monday they’ve published a joint patent, titled “Substituted cyclic amides and their use as herbicides,” and expect to launch herbicides based on […] Read more

Unveiling a rendering of Cavendish Farms’ planned new Lethbridge plant (close-up below) are (l-r) 48-year Cavendish employee Gerry Patterson; Cavendish’s Lethbridge director of operations, Lee Gleim; Cavendish’s senior vice-president Ron Clow, Cavendish president Robert Irving; Alberta Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier; Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman; Trevor Lewington, CEO of Economic Development Lethbridge; and potato grower Greg Nakamura. (Photo and graphic courtesy Cavendish Farms)

Irving’s potato arm plans new plant for Lethbridge

Reading Time: 2 minutes Cavendish Farms, the potato arm of J.D. Irving Ltd., is set to build a $350 million frozen potato processing plant at Lethbridge to double its local capacity and replace the old York Farms plant it owns there. Moncton-based Cavendish announced Monday it has picked up Lethbridge city hall’s approval to buy a new plant site […] Read more


Health Canada is calling for a three- to five-year phase-out of imidacloprid from farm use over potential risks to aquatic insects such as mayflies. (OttawaRiverkeeper.ca)

PMRA seeks phase-out for neonic pesticide imidacloprid

Reading Time: 4 minutes Canadian farm use of the pesticide imidacloprid, from the controversial neonicotinoid family, is facing a three- to five-year phase-out from approval over its potential risks to aquatic insects. Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) on Wednesday announced it had completed a re-evaluation of the pesticide and has kicked off a 90-day public consultation period, […] Read more

(PortOfHalifax.ca)

Canada expects Britain to be part of CETA

Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters –– Canada expects Britain to be part of the CETA trade deal between Canada and the European Union, and stands ready to work with Britain on how the system will function after Brexit, Finance Minister Bill Morneau told BBC radio on Wednesday. He also defended Canada’s NAFTA trade deal with the U.S. […] Read more


(AlbertaPotatoes.ca)

Thailand to accept Alberta seed potatoes

Reading Time: 2 minutes Alberta is now the third Canadian province from which seed potato growers are eligible to export to Thailand. Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay on Monday announced a new export agreement by which Thailand will accept imports of seed potatoes produced in Alberta. “Alberta has a very innovative and progressive seed potato industry and is looking […] Read more

(Save-A-Lot.com)

Canada’s Onex to buy U.S. grocery chain Save-A-Lot

Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — Food retailer and wholesaler Supervalu Inc. said it will sell its Save-A-Lot business to Canadian private equity firm Onex Corp. for US$1.37 billion rather than spinning off the discount grocery chain as previously planned, the companies said on Monday. Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based Supervalu had been looking to separate the more profitable division, which […] Read more


(EC.europa.eu)

Belgian ‘Non’ clouds EU meeting to approve CETA

Reading Time: 2 minutes Luxembourg | Reuters — European Union trade ministers meet in Luxembourg on Tuesday aiming to approve a free trade agreement with Canada but facing regional opposition in Belgium that threatens to scupper the entire deal. All 28 EU governments now back the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which would be the bloc’s first trade […] Read more

(EC.europa.eu)

CETA hits resistance in Belgian fortress Wallonia

Reading Time: 3 minutes Namur, Belgium | Reuters — The Belgian fortress city of Namur, besieged by European armies down the centuries, issued a declaration of war on the global economic order Friday, with a vote to reject a planned EU-Canada free trade agreement. The parliament of the region of Wallonia voted in its seat at Namur after a […] Read more