Fruit/Vegetables, Agriculture News & Resources

For Manitoba vegetable grower Rolland Jeffries, Kelly Beaulieu’s company can create a market for vegetables that used to get rejected because of size or blemishes.

Fruit/Vegetables, Guide Business, Pulses

Picking up business

New food-processing technologies are creating a new era of opportunities, including for crops that just get plowed under today

By Rebeca Kuropatwa October 28, 2016

Reading Time: 7 minutes Behind the scenes in Canada’s food-processing industry, countless entrepreneurs are conjuring up new business opportunities by making more efficient use of our crops, including through improved processing and the use of previously wasted portions stock. Watching over and assisting many of these developers is Roberta Irving, who is in charge of business development at the […] Read more

Crops, Grapes, Reuters, Weather

World wine output seen at four-year low

By Reuters October 21, 2016

Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters –– Worldwide wine production is expected to fall this year to its lowest since 2012, chiefly due to adverse weather that sharply cut output in France and South America, wine body OIV estimated on Thursday. Global wine output is set to decrease by five per cent compared with last year to 259.5 […] Read more

A satellite view of Hurricane Matthew at about 1 p.m. ET on Oct. 6, as the hurricane regained Category 4 status. (NASA/NOAA GOES Project)

Crops, Fruit/Vegetables, Reuters, Weather

U.S. farmers race to ready for Hurricane Matthew’s blast

By Chris Prentice October 6, 2016

Reading Time: 3 minutes New York | Reuters — Hurricane Matthew, the fiercest Caribbean storm in nearly a decade, roiled commodities markets and forced companies from cane refiners to orange juice makers to shutter as it whipped its way toward the southeastern U.S. on Thursday. Southeastern companies were closing down operations ahead of a storm that could threaten some […] Read more

Crops, Fruit/Vegetables

B.C. greenhouse peppers cleared for Japan

By Country Guide Staff September 30, 2016

Reading Time: < 1 minute Canada and Japan have agreed on import conditions by which British Columbia’s produce growers will be able to ship greenhouse peppers to Japan. The agreement, effective immediately, means the province’s growers “could be looking at up to $20 million worth of pepper exports a year to Japan once the agreement is fully implemented,” B.C. Agriculture […] Read more

Crops, Grapes

Switzerland to recognize Canada’s organic wine, processed foods

By Country Guide Staff September 29, 2016

Reading Time: < 1 minute Canada and Switzerland have reached a deal to recognize each other’s organic certifications on wine and “multi-ingredient” foods. The two countries on Thursday announced expansions of their previous organic arrangement, which deems their respective certification systems to be equivalent for organic ag commodities and agrifood products. The amended deal takes effect Saturday (Oct. 1). The […] Read more

A Russian grain terminal at the Port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea. (NMTP.info)

Cereals, Crops, Fruit/Vegetables, Reuters

Russia may ban Egyptian citrus amid wheat dispute

By Eric Knecht, Polina Devitt September 13, 2016

Reading Time: 2 minutes Moscow/Cairo | Reuters — Russia threatened to ban Egyptian citrus imports on Tuesday, a move that could escalate a trade dispute over exports of Russian wheat to the world’s largest importer of the grain. Moscow said this week it hopes to hold talks with Egypt, its top buyer, over Cairo’s failure to approve Russian wheat […] Read more

Crops, Fruit/Vegetables, Markets

Ontario’s Leal jumps in on vegetable marketing proposal

By Country Guide Staff August 18, 2016

Reading Time: 3 minutes Ontario’s Farm Products Marketing Commission has been ordered to change its approach on proposals to deregulate vegetable contract talks between growers and processors. Provincial Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal, in a letter dated Wednesday to commission chair Geri Kamenz, said “concerns have been raised about an apparent lack of both adequate and sufficient information and consultation […] Read more

Crops, Fruit/Vegetables, Reuters

China money, market spur Canadian blueberry deluge

By Julie Gordon August 6, 2016

Reading Time: 4 minutes Richmond, B.C. | Reuters — An aging mansion sits vacant on an estate outside Vancouver, the garage overtaken by a blueberry sorter and a walk-in cooler packed with the fruit. The owner, an investor from mainland China, leases the estate to Fred Liu at such a bargain the farmer grows blueberries in its fields even […] Read more

Cereals, Fruit/Vegetables, Pulses, Reuters

SunOpta pressured by shareholders after sluggish sales

By John Tilak, Lauren Hirsch July 25, 2016

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters – Canadian organic food company SunOpta Inc, already under pressure from U.S. hedge fund Tourbillon Capital Partners LP, is being prodded by a second activist shareholder to explore the sale of all or part of the company, according to sources familiar with the matter. Canadian hedge fund West Face Capital, which pushed SNC-Lavalin to sell […] Read more

Malawian subsistence farmer Rozaria Hamiton plants sweet potatoes near the capital Lilongwe, Malawi February 1, 2016.

News, Potatoes

Sweet potato experts win World Food Prize

The foursome has worked to improve nutrition in sweet potatoes

By Isma’il Kushkush, Reuters July 11, 2016

Reading Time: < 1 minute Four scientists who specialized in sweet potatoes were named the winners of this year’s World Food Prize on June 28 for their work to make foods more nutritious. Maria Andrade of Cape Verde, Robert Mwanga of Uganda and American Jan Low, who all are from the Lima, Peru-based International Potato Center, and American Howarth Bouis […] Read more

Daily Network News

USDA attachés forecast some changes in China’s oilseeds, cereals

China urges hog producers to manage output, vows timely reserve adjustments

Farm Credit Canada offers aid to farmers, companies affected by Iran war price spikes

Fruit/Vegetables