Reading Time: 2 minutes A former agriculture critic for Quebec’s provincial Liberals and former chair of the assembly’s agriculture, fisheries and food committee is the province’s new agriculture minister. Announcing his cabinet Wednesday following the April 7 election [Related story], incoming Premier Philippe Couillard named Pierre Paradis, the MNA for the Monteregie riding of Brome-Missisquoi since 1980, as the […] Read more
Ex-ag committee chief Paradis named Que. ag minister
CP, CN book higher Q1 grain revenue, smaller grain handle
Reading Time: 2 minutes First-quarter revenue from grain handling is up at both Canadian Pacific (CP) and Canadian National (CN) Railways as the two companies both reported higher overall quarterly profit. CP on Tuesday booked overall first-quarter net income of $254 million on revenues of $1.509 billion for the period ending March 31 — the company’s best-ever Q1 result, […] Read more
OAC’s Kemptville campus funded for skills training
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Ontario government has put up $2 million to extend skills training programs at the Ontario Agricultural College’s (OAC) soon-to-be-shuttered Kemptville campus for the coming academic year. The province announced the funding Tuesday for the campus to continue to host skills training programs that “support the agricultural sector in eastern Ontario,” including the agricultural equipment […] Read more
Billiton resumes Sask. potash work at ‘modulated’ pace
Reading Time: 2 minutes Global mining giant BHP Billiton has resumed excavation work it put on hold late last year at its potash mining project in Saskatchewan — but plans to pace its dig to best meet market demand. The Australian/British company on Wednesday released its operational review for the nine months ending March 31, in which it reported […] Read more
Sask. sets up pre-emptive PEDv response fund
Reading Time: 2 minutes Saskatchewan and its hog industry are setting up a contingency fund against the day porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) arrives in the province. The federal and Saskatchewan governments on Thursday announced $200,000, to be matched by industry association Sask Pork, to offset “costs related to disease containment strategies, welfare issues, enhanced marketing efforts and mortality management” […] Read more
Maple Leaf’s Hamilton wiener plant now closed
Reading Time: 2 minutes A wiener processing plant on Maple Leaf Foods’ list of six further-processing facilities tapped for closure in the company’s 2011 “value creation” plan has officially shut its doors. The Toronto meat processing company on Thursday announced its plant on Brockley Road in Hamilton has closed and its production — plus 88 per cent of the […] Read more
Winnipeg egg processor to join Post
Reading Time: 3 minutes Winnipeg foodservice egg processor MFI Food Canada is poised to become an arm of breakfast giant Post as part of the U.S. company’s biggest-ever takeover deal. Post Holdings, whose brands include cereals such as Honeycomb, Alpha-Bits, Grape-Nuts and (in Canada) Shreddies, plus other cereal, snack and nutrition supplement products, announced Thursday it has an agreement […] Read more
Que. flood concerns briefly shut Olymel pork plant
Reading Time: < 1 minute Quebec meat packing firm Olymel called off shifts Wednesday at its Beauce-region pork slaughter plant due to potential flood threats. Olymel, the meat processing arm of agrifood co-operative Coop Federee, said it decided to cancel Wednesday’s evening and night shifts at its plant at Vallee-Jonction, about 60 km south of Quebec City, due to concerns […] Read more
CWB bidding for full ownership of Prairie West Terminal
Reading Time: 3 minutes Western Saskatchewan farmers with shares in grain handler Prairie West Terminal are to vote next month on a $43.23 million cash bid from CWB for the 90 per cent it doesn’t yet own. CWB, the Winnipeg grain company formerly known as the Canadian Wheat Board, announced Thursday it has entered an “arrangement agreement” with PWT […] Read more
Rise in farmland values most pronounced in Sask., Man., Que.
Reading Time: 4 minutes Farm Credit Canada’s annual charting of the ebb and flow of Canada’s farmland values saw price increases ahead of the curve in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec pushing nationwide values to their biggest year-over-year jump in recent history. The federal farm lending agency on Monday released its 2013 Farmland Values report, which tracks variations in bareland […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
