General

Reading Time: < 1 minute The federal government will ask for a World Trade Organization dispute settlement panel on the issue of the United States’ domestic farm subsidies when the WTO’s dispute settlement body meets Nov. 19. Federal Trade Minister David Emerson said in a statement Thursday that Ottawa believes the U.S. “has breached its international obligations by providing agricultural […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes Brad Wall’s Saskatchewan Party made long-sought gains outside the usual rural strongholds of its namesake province to win Wednesday’s provincial election, taking several key seats from Lorne Calvert’s New Democrats, including their agriculture minister’s. The NDP’s Mark Wartman, a United Church minister, MLA since 1999 and minister for agriculture and food since 2004, was declared […] Read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute An oat researcher known for his work adapting oats into food for sufferers of celiac disease was among those honoured Monday as the winners of the annual Canadian Agri-Food Awards of Excellence. Ontario oat breeder Vernon Burrows, who has registered 27 varieties in his career, is a well-known volunteer with the Canadian Celiac Association, which […] Read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute Independent grocery store owners and managers can get training on an in-store food safety system through the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers (CFIG), backed by almost $285,000 in federal funding. Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced the funding Tuesday in Ottawa. CFIG’s program will train store owners and managers to introduce the Hazard Analysis Critical […] Read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute Organic food and “natural” products retailer Planet Organic Health Corp. posted a 16 per cent increase in net income on a 47 per cent rise in sales this fiscal year, the company said Tuesday. The Edmonton company owns 74 stores in North America, including eight Planet Organic supermarkets in Canada and 11 Mrs. Green’s Natural […] Read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute British Columbia’s provincial government has proposed an electoral district system that will keep rural representation in its legislative assembly at a set level while allowing for more MLAs in areas seeing population growth. Amendments introduced Wednesday will direct the B.C. Electoral Boundaries Commission to recommend 87 electoral districts, up from 79 today. From those 87, […] Read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute Health Canada has put up a new searchable database of food and children’s product recalls for Canadian consumers. The site, at www.healthycanadians.gc.ca, includes separate listings of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s food alerts and recalls, Health Canada’s children’s toy and product recalls and a search function to check for specific products. The food recall listing, […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes The agricultural index in Scotiabank’s Commodity Price Index jumped 6.7 per cent month-over-month during September, helping pull the commodity index out of a three-month decline. Patricia Mohr, the company’s vice-president of economics and commodity market specialist, wrote in a research report Wednesday that agriculture and energy helped the overall index — which gauges commodities’ performance […] Read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes With eyes on a possible free trade deal, the federal government wants to hear from Canadians on their views and experiences dealing with the kingdom of Jordan. A call for consultations, issued Monday, stems from talks in July between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Jordan’s King Abdullah II, where the two countries agreed to study […] Read more