Reading Time: 2 minutes A researcher working for a group calling for the return of single desk marketing misinterpreted data in former Canadian Wheat Board annual reports to conclude the board paid lower rates for shipping grain. Several sources, including a former Canadian Wheat Board director, say University of Saskatchewan Ph.D. candidate Laura Larsen used an inaccurate comparison in […] Read more
Red pens come out for postmortem report on CWB era
Newfoundland, in cost-cutting mode, scraps agrifood fund
Reading Time: 2 minutes A fund meant to support large-scale agrifood projects in Newfoundland and Labrador is a victim of spending cuts in the province’s latest budget. Finance Minister Cathy Bennett on Thursday mapped out an overall $8.48 billion provincial budget for 2016-17, with an expected deficit of $1.8 billion and a list of “measures to reduce spending.” For the […] Read more
Alberta to shut livestock, grain agencies in budget
Reading Time: 3 minutes Alberta’s farmers will be spared the new fuel levy planned for next year in the province’s latest budget, but can expect a number of farm agencies to close in the meantime as the province moves to curb spending. Provincial Finance Minister Joe Ceci on Thursday announced a 2016-17 budget with projected revenue of $41.38 billion, […] Read more
Post-CWB review flags grain trade ‘inefficiency’
Reading Time: < 1 minute WITHDRAWN, April 15, 2016: A historian’s review of the Prairie grain trade, commissioned by supporters of the former single marketing desk for wheat and barley, suggests history is repeating itself at grain growers’ expense — but the data on which the review is based is now being questioned. The Canadian Wheat Board Alliance on Wednesday released a […] Read more
Farmland fundamentals potentially bearish: FCC
Reading Time: 3 minutes Having tracked more double-digit percentage increases in Canadian farmland prices through 2015, Canada’s federal farm lender sees factors lining up for those values to retreat. Farm Credit Canada’s latest Farmland Values Report, released Monday, logged a 10.1 per cent increase in average farmland values in Canada in 2015, down from a 14.3 per cent rise in […] Read more
Wine, foreign content now covered in organic pact with EU
Reading Time: 2 minutes The deal that clears Canadian-certified organic food for sale as organic in the European Union is now expanded to cover Canadian-processed products with some imported ingredients — and to include organic wine. Canada’s Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan on Thursday confirmed the expansion of scope for the EU-Canada Organic Equivalence […] Read more
Saskatchewan ag minister, ag critic return in election
Reading Time: 2 minutes Saskatchewan’s agriculture minister and opposition ag critic both easily held their ridings Monday night as the governing Saskatchewan Party completed its electoral hat trick. By about 1 a.m. Tuesday, Premier Brad Wall’s Saskatchewan Party had won 51 of 61 ridings, for a third straight majority mandate coming out of Monday’s general election. The opposition New […] Read more
U.S. trader Lansing takes bigger stake in Providence
Reading Time: < 1 minute Prairie grain handler Providence Grain Group is set to add some merchandising bench strength as its silent partner takes a bigger stake. Kansas-based Lansing Trade Group, which maintains grain trading desks in Western Canada, announced in late March it will increase its stake in Alberta-based Providence Grain to 38 per cent, up from about 12 […] Read more
Tropical fruit giant buys Canada’s top mushroom firm
Reading Time: 2 minutes A major worldwide distributor and marketer of bananas, pineapples and melons is making a move into the mushroom business, by buying Canada’s biggest player. Fyffes, whose products are sold in Canada and the U.S. under the Fyffes, Turbana, Sol and Fresh Quest labels, on Friday announced it has paid $145 million for all equity in […] Read more
Farm emissions research program renewed
Reading Time: 2 minutes A federal program backing research into farm-level technologies and practices that limit farms’ greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has been picked up for another five-year run. Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay on Wednesday announced $27 million is budgeted over the 2016-21 period for the Agricultural Greenhouse Gases Program (AGGP). More information about criteria for the renewed program […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
