Reading Time: 2 minutes The list of U.S. jurisdictions from which travellers can’t bring live poultry, eggs or raw poultry products into Canada is now three states longer. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Tuesday announced new restrictions on such products from North Dakota, Wisconsin and Iowa, following confirmed cases of H5N2 avian flu this week at commercial poultry […] Read more
Canada blocks poultry, eggs from N.D., Wisconsin, Iowa
PMRA review calls for slim changes to glyphosate label
Reading Time: 3 minutes A federal re-evaluation of glyphosate’s health risks leaves the popular herbicide’s status unchanged in Canada — but proposes tweaks to the product label as a “risk-reduction” measure. Products containing glyphosate “do not present unacceptable risks to human health or the environment when used according to the proposed label directions,” Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency […] Read more
Ont. organic dairy co-op in creditor protection
Reading Time: 2 minutes The co-operative behind one of Canada’s biggest names in organic dairy goods is in creditor protection and aiming to negotiate new terms on the eight figures owing to its creditors and members. Organic Meadow Co-operative announced Monday it had filed for creditor protection “in order to complete a restructuring of its operations.” The company said […] Read more
Funds blocked from investing in Sask. farmland, for now
Reading Time: 3 minutes Saskatchewan’s government plans to take a closer look at its rules on investment in farmland, but will block such investments by pension funds and other “institutional” investors while the review is underway. The province said Monday it will soon run further consultations and a review of farmland ownership rules as now laid out under the […] Read more
Zone coverage set up around SW Ont. avian flu site
Reading Time: 3 minutes The only farm in Canada now in the midst of an avian flu cleanup is the centre of a new control zone, meant to limit the flu’s spread and keep Canada’s trading partners at ease. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on Sunday announced it has set up an avian flu control zone, which so […] Read more
N.S. consolidates inspections in cost-cutting budget
Reading Time: 2 minutes Nova Scotia is set to gather its agricultural, environmental and public health inspection work into one department, along with other consolidation and cuts in its latest budget. Finance Minister Diana Whalen’s 2015-16 budget, released Thursday, calls for consolidation of inspection, compliance and enforcement functions in its Natural Resources, Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment departments, plus its […] Read more
Ontario doubles down on feeder cattle loans
Reading Time: < 1 minute Ontario cattle feeders will be able to take out larger loans to buy livestock under an expansion of the provincial feeder cattle loan guarantee program. The program guarantees 25 per cent of a financial institution’s loan to one of Ontario’s 18 feeder cattle co-operatives, which then allows the co-op’s members a “more competitive” interest rate […] Read more
Neonic rules ‘unworkable’ for Ont. corn, soy growers
Reading Time: 2 minutes Ontario’s planned regulation to limit the use of neonicotinoid seed treatments might as well be a ban from where the organization sits representing the province’s corn and soy producers. After reviewing the draft regulation, which provincial officials posted March 23 for public comment until May 7, Grain Farmers of Ontario said Thursday it “strongly opposes […] Read more
Top court’s dismissal halts farmers’ suit over CWB assets
Reading Time: 3 minutes The bulk of a proposed class action by four Prairie farmers, over what they called the federal government’s “expropriation” of Canadian Wheat Board assets, has hit its final wall. The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday dismissed, with costs, the farmers’ application for leave to appeal their 2013 loss in Federal Court. The four — […] Read more
Private wells added to Sask. flood protection program
Reading Time: 2 minutes A provincial program covering Saskatchewan residents’ costs to put up emergency, permanent flood protection has been expanded to include projects to protect private wells. The province’s Emergency Flood Damage Reduction Program (EFDRP) is offered to communities, rural municipalities, businesses, non-profit organizations, individual farm and country residences and cottages facing “imminent flooding.” The 2015 program, launched […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
