Reading Time: 2 minutes One of Canada’s biggest providers of rural broadband is set to expand its space in the Saskatchewan market by buying rural high-speed wireless provider YourLink. New Brunswick-based Xplornet Communications on Monday announced an all-cash $28.75 million deal with Victoria-based Vecima Networks for the “remaining assets” of Vecima’s YourLink business. YourLink, based in Saskatoon, is a […] Read more
Xplornet buying YourLink
More bovine TB quarantines still expected
Reading Time: 2 minutes Tracking an outbreak of bovine tuberculosis through southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan is still expected to lead to more quarantines of more Prairie cattle ranches, though no new controls have been imposed since before Christmas. As of Wednesday, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency reported no new cases of bovine TB in its investigation, beyond the […] Read more
Saskatchewan taking livestock premises ID mandatory
Reading Time: < 1 minute Saskatchewan livestock producers wanting to take part in provincial programs will soon have to have a valid premises identification (ID) number. The provincial and federal governments on Thursday announced the new requirement for Saskatchewan producers will take effect “over the coming months.” The province has had a voluntary premises ID (PID) program in place since […] Read more
Trade lawyer named federal trade minister
Reading Time: 2 minutes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s latest mini-cabinet shuffle puts a Quebec lawyer specializing in international trade into the trade minister’s chair. Trudeau on Tuesday appointed Francois-Philippe Champagne, the rookie MP for the Shawinigan-area riding of Saint-Maurice-Champlain, as minister of international trade, replacing Chrystia Freeland. Freeland, as widely expected leading up to Tuesday’s announcement, becomes minister of […] Read more
Pattison merges Deere dealership chains
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Jim Pattison Group has consolidated its Prairie farm equipment dealerships in Saskatchewan and Manitoba under one new banner. Pattison on Tuesday announced the merger of its Maple Farm Equipment and JayDee AgTech chains, which deal mainly in John Deere farm equipment. The two chains are to be rebranded as Pattison Agriculture. Darrin Didychuk, now […] Read more
Mars to buy animal hospital chain
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadian veterinary chain Associate Veterinary Clinics (AVC) is set to become an arm of pet food giant Mars. Virginia-based Mars on Monday announced a US$9.1 billion, US$93 per share deal for all outstanding shares of VCA Inc., whose assets cover almost 800 animal hospitals with 60 diagnostic labs across North America. Those assets include Calgary-based […] Read more
Animal pharma firm Merial formally joins Boehringer
Reading Time: 2 minutes Global pharma giants Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim have formally sealed their deal to merge Sanofi’s global animal health business, Merial, into Boehringer’s. The two companies last week announced their deal has “successfully closed in most markets” as of Jan. 1. Paris-based Sanofi will get Boehringer’s global consumer health care business plus 4.7 billion euros (C$6.6 […] Read more
Fungicide cleared to curb verticillium wilt in potatoes
Reading Time: 2 minutes A label expansion for Syngenta’s Aprovia fungicide, to cover additional soil-borne potato diseases, makes it the first fungicide in Canada approved to suppress verticillium wilt in potatoes. Fumigants have been potato growers’ only option against the crop disease until now, Eric Phillips, Syngenta Canada’s fungicides and insecticides product lead, said in a release Thursday. Verticillium […] Read more
No TB quarantines lifted over holidays
Reading Time: 2 minutes None of the 50 ranch properties still under federal quarantine for bovine tuberculosis in southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan have been released in the past two weeks, officials reported Thursday. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Thursday resumed regular updates on its ongoing investigation into cases of bovine TB in the area. As of Thursday, […] Read more
Climate Corp. crop data system in beta for Western Canada
Reading Time: 3 minutes A major farm data analysis package, already being offered for sale in Eastern Canada for use this spring, is in beta testing toward a rollout later this year in Western Canada. Management from Monsanto and its farm data systems arm, The Climate Corp., speaking on a conference call Thursday, said they see a launch for […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
