General

Reading Time: < 1 minute Some of Alberta’s largest users of waters – including irrigators — are taking action to develop and implement water conservation, efficiency and productivity plans as part of the province’s renewed Water for Life strategy. The Alberta Water Council released a report today outlining 21 recommendations for water conservation, efficiency and productivity sector planning to guide […] Read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute Maple Leaf Foods has raised $70 million through a ‘private placement’, rather than issuing new stock. The embattled meat packer has suffered recently due to a listeriosis outbreak traced back to their sandwich meat operation that sickened many Canadians and caused a handful of deaths. The move to raise private money resulted in the sale […] Read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute An interest-free period has been extended for farmers in six provinces to pay back overpayments they received through CAIS or AgriStability. Interest will not be charged on outstanding overpayments until Jan. 1, 2010, a one-year extension from the previously announced date of Jan. 1, 2009. Monday’s announcement applies only to eligible farmers in British Columbia, […] Read more

Reading Time: 3 minutes Co-operatives in rural Canada got loans and credit in 2007 much more readily than their urban counterparts, a new Statistics Canada survey shows. Overall, StatsCan’s survey shows the “vast majority” of co-operatives got all that they requested in new or additional loans, lines of credit or credit cards, but about 20 per cent of co-operatives […] Read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute Canada’s farm population is continuing to get smaller and older according to a recent report by Statistics Canada, based on the 2006 Census. The farm population fell 6.2 per cent from 2001-2006, and now accounts for just 2.2 per cent of all Canadians, compared to 31.7 per cent in 1931, when it was counted for […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes Above-average crop prices, a lower loonie and easing cost pressures are expected to mean “another good year,” from where TD Economics sits, for Canada’s ag sector overall in 2009. This despite the “growing likelihood” of a global economic recession next year, TD Economics forecast in a report released Monday on prospects for Canada’s ag sector […] Read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute Improved income from primarily crop-producing provinces carried the country’s farmers to an overall increase in realized net farm income in 2007. So say the stats on farm income released Monday by Statistics Canada, pointing to realized net farm income of $2.2 billion, up $1.2 billion or 125.4 per cent from 2006 levels and a rebound […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes Increases in commodity prices and the value of Canada’s dollar, tied to a drop in import prices, boosted purchasing power for most provinces in the last five years, according to Statistics Canada. In a new report released Tuesday, the federal statistics agency found that for all provinces except Prince Edward Island, real gross domestic income […] Read more