Reading Time: 5 minutes A year and a half later, Jeff Kooyman is still disturbed by a video produced on his farm, Chilliwack Cattle Sales, by the advocacy group Mercy for Animals. Broadcast during prime time on CTV national news on June 2014, the video let the whole world see young workers shouting “f***ing bitch” at cows, kicking one […] Read more
After the animal abuse video went viral
What’s it like for a Canadian farmer at the centre of an international animal rights media frenzy?
Dairy support price gets boost starting Feb. 1
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada’s dairy farmers can expect a two per cent bump in their overall revenue from industrial milk sales starting Feb. 1 next year. Citing dairy producers’ increased costs of production, the Canadian Dairy Commission on Wednesday announced its support price of butter will increase effective Feb. 1 to $7.7815 per kilogram, from $7.4046 currently. Its […] Read more
Parmalat gets GF2 funds for new Winnipeg milk plant
Reading Time: 2 minutes Dairy giant Parmalat is set to get federal and Manitoba government funding toward its planned new $50 million milk plant in Winnipeg. The two levels of government on Tuesday pledged $2.5 million toward the construction of Parmalat’s new dairy plant at an industrial park in the city’s St. Boniface area, about seven km east of […] Read more
Que. dairyman named parliamentary ag secretary
Reading Time: < 1 minute Canada’s agriculture minister will get a Quebec dairyman and grain farmer turned rookie Liberal MP as his new parliamentary secretary. Jean-Claude Poissant, who won the re-formed Montreal-area riding of La Prairie for the Liberals on Oct. 19 by a spread of almost 5,900 votes over Bloc Quebecois contender Christian Picard, was named Wednesday as parliamentary […] Read more
GTA police track down alleged cheesenappers
Reading Time: 2 minutes Three Toronto-area men face theft charges after a tractor trailer load of cheese took a late-night road trip in the wee hours Wednesday. The truckload of cheese had been reported stolen from the Brampton, Ont. area on Tuesday, York Regional Police said in a release. The YRP said they then got a call shortly after […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat drops on improving crop conditions, big stocks
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters –– U.S. wheat futures fell more than two per cent on Tuesday, giving up all the prior session’s gains, as a further improvement in the condition of the U.S. winter crop placed attention back on ample global supply of the staple cereal. Corn prices eased, following wheat lower and further pressured by […] Read more
TPP deal to pressure Canadian dairy farmers, Saputo says
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Canadian farmers will get squeezed between new trade deals that allow more dairy imports to enter the country and slow-growing domestic consumption, Saputo’s CEO said on Thursday. The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal is expected to open access for New Zealand, the U.S. and other countries to 3.5 per cent of the Canadian market, […] Read more
Agropur to consolidate B.C. milk processing
Reading Time: 2 minutes Dairy co-operative Agropur plans to tighten up its fluid milk processing on British Columbia’s Lower Mainland, upgrading its milk plant at Burnaby and shutting its plant at Chilliwack. Quebec-based Agropur took over the Burnaby plant, along with facilities in Edmonton and Winnipeg, when it bought the former Canada Safeway milk processing plants from Sobeys last […] Read more
TPP not the death of supply management, N.Z. trade chief says
Reading Time: 2 minutes Hamilton, N.Z. | MCO — Canada’s supply-managed sectors should not worry about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, from where New Zealand’s Trade Minister Tim Groser sits. “I can understand why producer groups would wish to perceive this in a different way, but this is not the end of supply management,” he said here Thursday. “I don’t think […] Read more
Van Camp: Olive branches offered through new gaps in tariff wall
Reading Time: 4 minutes What do you get when you mix milk and eggs with a looming election? A “free” trade deal that gained major market access in Asia for Canada, but managed to keeps the tariffs for Canada’s supply-managed commodities. After all the barking from New Zealand, cows parading on Parliament Hill, tweets, heart-wrenching videos on Facebook, election […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
