(Video screengrab from Agrium.com)

Agri-food supercluster announces board, CEO

Reading Time: 3 minutes The new Smart Agri-Food Supercluster (SASC) will field a team of 11 innovation and corporate leaders from across Canada as its interim board of directors. The board (see below), which will be chaired by Doug Beever of Agrium, has also appointed Rob Davies as its interim CEO. Davies brings more than three decades of leadership […] Read more

A Ben + Florentine restaurant in Ange-Gardien, Que. The breakfast-focused chain, now part of Imvescor, opened its 50th restaurant in November. (BenEtFlorentine.com)

Canadian fast-food, dining firms plan merger

Reading Time: 3 minutes A restaurant firm with well known brands in Eastern Canada’s casual dining market is set to merge into a neighbouring firm behind the franchises populating many of Canada’s mall food courts. Montreal-based MTY Food Group announced Tuesday it has a cash-and-stock agreement in place to pick up all outstanding common shares of another Montreal firm, […] Read more


(OntLA.on.ca)

Ontario general farm organization fee increasing

Reading Time: < 1 minute Ontario farmers will be paying more for their representation by their general farm organizations in 2018 after the government approved a $30 increase. The annual fee will be $225 plus HST for membership in the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario or National Farmers Union-Ontario. All registered farmers have to pay the […] Read more

As of this month, all front-line RCMP officers in rural Manitoba have been equipped with naloxone kits to assist people who have come into contact with opioids. (Photo courtesy Manitoba RCMP)

Farmers seen harder hit by opioid crisis than rest of rural U.S.

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — The opioid crisis in the United States is impacting farm and ranch families more acutely than their rural neighbours, according to a survey published by the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and the U.S. National Farmers Union on Thursday. About three-quarters of farmers and ranchers surveyed said a family member, someone […] Read more


Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay speaks Nov. 24 at Agribition in Regina. (Agr.gc.ca)

Federal programs set for Growing Forward sequel

Reading Time: 2 minutes Market development, product development and overall sector development are among the priorities in the federal government’s five-year funding plan for the ag sector. Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay, speaking Friday at Canadian Western Agribition in Regina, announced a $1 billion suite of six federally funded programs to roll out through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. The Canadian […] Read more

Keith Currie was acclaimed to a second term as OFA president at the organization’s annual meeting Nov. 20-21 in Toronto. (John Greig photo)

OFA pre-election policy targets broader economic development

Reading Time: 3 minutes Stable rural areas and thriving farms can help urbanites with some of their biggest challenges. That’s the message from the Ontario Federation of Agriculture going into next year’s provincial election. The OFA talked about how it is framing its election strategy at its annual meeting, which ran Monday and Tuesday in Toronto. “With the election […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Fossil fuels here to stay… for now

Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | CNS Canada – Renewable sources of energy may be the future, but that future is not coming any time soon as fossil fuels will be needed to continue to power the world for generations, according to author and professor emeritus Vaclav Smil, speaking at the Grain World conference in Winnipeg, Nov. 14. “We […] Read more

(Video screengrab from CBSA-asfc.gc.ca)

Trade talks a dicey situation, Coyne says

Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | CNS Canada — With Canada in the midst of negotiations for two different trade agreements, the North American Free Trade Agreement and Trans-Pacific Partnership, trade concerns are getting muddled, according to Andrew Coyne. “We need to be conscious of diversifying our trade interests beyond just North America. It would be extremely foolish that […] Read more


Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister, Lawrence MacAulay.  Photo: parl.gc.ca

MacAulay to visit China on trade mission to boost food exports

Reading Time: < 1 minute Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister, Lawrence MacAulay, will lead a trade mission next week to China as part of Canada’s efforts to double bilateral trade with that country and grow global agri-food exports to $75 billion by 2025. A news release distributed on Nov. 9, said, “with a population of 1.4 billion people, and a growing appetite for high-quality Canadian food products, […] Read more

Japan’s Imperial Palace and Nijubashi Bridge, in Tokyo. (CIA.gov)

TPP talks without U.S. near final stretch

Reading Time: 3 minutes Urayasu, Japan | Reuters — The 11 remaining nations in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) without the United States edged toward sealing a comprehensive free trade pact after New Zealand agreed to amend laws that are not subject to TPP, to enable its ban on foreign home purchases. The pact aims to eliminate tariffs on industrial […] Read more