General

Reading Time: 2 minutes A new work plan for the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) — a group of four provinces and seven states looking to reduce greenhouse gases — includes studying whether farming will fit into its plans for a cap-and-trade offset system. The WCI, whose member provinces include Quebec, Manitoba, Ontario and British Columbia, along with Saskatchewan as […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes When added up across Canada, the sales of produce, baked goods and other items from tents and booths and off pickups’ tailgates have officially become a billion-dollar industry. That’s $1.03 billion to be exact. Farmers’ Markets Canada, which announced at meetings in December that Canadian farmers’ markets’ direct sales had passed the billion-dollar mark, rolled […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada’s updated regulations for organic foods have been posted for public comment ahead of their expected implementation date at the end of June. “The Canadian organic sector — including farmers, processors, certifiers, retailers and consumers — has been working diligently over the past year and a half to adjust its organic standards in time for […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes If you’re an average Canadian in terms of disposable income, as of Thursday you’ve earned enough so far in 2009 to pay your food bill for the year. That’s the estimate of economists at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) in declaring Thursday (Feb. 12) as Food Freedom Day in Canada for 2009. That’s well […] Read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute Canada’s Senate committee on agriculture and forestry has elected New Brunswick Senator Percy Mockler as its chairman. Mockler, 59, previously a New Brunswick MLA and former provincial minister for wellness, culture and sport and for human resources development, was named last month to the Senate by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Joyce Fairbairn, an Alberta senator […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes Only about 15 per cent of farmers have a formal safety plan in place for their operations, according to a Farm Credit Canada panel survey showing “a gap between intention and action.” The federal ag and agri-food lending agency on Wednesday released the latest survey data from its Vision Panel, a national online research panel […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada’s agriculture sector lost more jobs on a percentage basis in 12 months’ time than any other employment sector in the country, according to Statistics Canada. The federal statistical agency reported Friday that about 307,800 people were employed in the ag sector in January 2009, down from 316,200 in December 2008 and down by 32,600 […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada’s agriculture ministers want their staff to come up with an action plan on food safety in time for their next meeting in July. Gathering Monday in Ottawa at a meeting co-chaired by federal and Ontario agriculture ministers Gerry Ritz and Leona Dombrowsky, the provincial ag ministers said “concerted” effort will continue a national agriculture […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes Farmers will get government contributions to their AgriInvest accounts for the 2007 program year without having to make matching deposits. Leading up to a federal and provincial agriculture ministers’ meeting on Monday (Feb. 9) in Ottawa, the ministers jointly announced they would waive the deposit requirement for 2007 AgriInvest as a “transition measure.” Only farmers […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes Agricultural prices have dropped at a relatively slower pace compared to most others in Scotiabank’s basket of major commodities. In her monthly commodity price index (CPI) review, released Thursday, Scotia Economics vice-president Patricia Mohr reports that “the shift from ‘boom’ to ‘bust’ in many commodities has been the most rapid in the history of the […] Read more