Reading Time: 3 minutes Canada’s grain companies are committed to keeping grain moving to domestic and export customers, but how the spread of COVID-19 might affect business is still an unknown, says Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevator Association. “We are are going to do everything in our power to keep grain moving at this time,” […] Read more
Handlers focus on keeping grain moving despite COVID-19
Grain companies, Canadian Grain Commission working but unsure of future
Seed pilot project unveiled
Reading Time: 4 minutes The new Seed Variety Use Agreement (SVUA) pilot project, unveiled in Winnipeg Feb. 25, will demonstrate the benefits of farmers paying breeders a royalty for seed saved for planting. But the Prairies’ five wheat and barley commissions have “significant concern” about the project, they said in a news release. The SVUA pilot is being organized […] Read more
Grain Commission’s chief announces retirement
AAFC's review of Grain Act, and of CGC's future, continues
Reading Time: 3 minutes The Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) is seeking a new chief commissioner. Patti Miller, who has held the position for three years, announced Tuesday to CGC staff that she will retire June 26. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) “will be launching an open, transparent and merit-based process to find a new commissioner as soon as possible,” […] Read more
Manitoba gathering data to press case for exempting grain drying from federal carbon tax
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Manitoba government is gathering data to make the case for exempting grain drying fuels from the federal government’s carbon tax. “So we’ll get the numbers together and then to (federal agriculture) Minister (Marie-Claude) Bibeau and we’ll continue to lobby on behalf of our ag producers,” Manitoba’s Agriculture and Resource Development Minister Blaine Pederson said […] Read more
CN reports grain movement back at pre-strike pace
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadian National Railway’s grain shipping is back to its pre-strike pace, the railway says. “By the second week of December (week 19), CN returned to shipping at peak levels, as well as taking on all customer hopper demand for the second and third weeks of December,” Montreal-based CN said in a release Thursday. “Despite a […] Read more
Elevator operators seek quick end to CN strike
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA) wants grain shipments on Canadian National Railway (CN) to resume as soon as possible. “It has a major impact for every day that we’re not moving grain on CN,” WGEA executive director Wade Sobkowich said in an interview Tuesday. “A federal mediator has been appointed and that’s a step […] Read more
Knowing your wheat’s falling number critical this year
Reading Time: 4 minutes [UPDATED: Nov. 22, 2019] The ‘harvest from hell’ has resulted in one of the worst years in recent memory for sprout damage. That’s pushed down falling numbers and — since grain buyers have different approaches to handling this issue — increased the need for farmers to know the falling numbers for their wheat. But if […] Read more
Canada, China meet over canola stalemate
Reading Time: 4 minutes [UPDATED: Oct. 31, 2019] Glacier FarmMedia – Canada and China finally had a face-to-face meeting *Oct. 28 in Geneva on China’s de facto import ban of Canadian canola seed. The private consultation under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO) went well, according to Brian Innes, the Canola Council of Canada’s *vice-president of public […] Read more
What do farmers really think about seed royalties?
The West’s general farm organizations have created an online survey to get farmers’ view on cereal seed royalty proposals
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadian farmers are being asked their opinion about proposed changes to seed royalties for cereals by Western Canada’s three general farm organizations. The Keystone Agricultural producers (KAP), Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan and Alberta Federation of Agriculture, launched the online survey July 15 to measure farmers’ understanding of what’s being proposed and get their views, […] Read more
Grain Commission suspends ILTA Grain’s licenses
Reading Time: 2 minutes Farmers owed money for grain delivered to ILTA Grain Inc. should call the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC). The CGC on Thursday suspended the Surrey, B.C.-based company’s grain dealer’s license and its primary grain elevator licenses for elevators at Belle Plaine and Saskatoon, Sask., Remi Gosselin, the CGC’s manager of corporate information services, said in an […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
