(Photo courtesy Architect of the Capitol, VisitTheCapitol.gov)

U.S. said considering TPP trade deal without Canada

Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington | Reuters — The United States, frustrated over the lack of progress with Canada over new rules for agriculture trade, is weighing “contingencies” that could include completing a Pacific Rim trade pact that excludes Canada, according to two sources familiar with the issue. One official familiar with the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiation said […] Read more


Agropur to shut Montreal-area milk plant

Reading Time: < 1 minute Quebec dairy co-operative Agropur plans to shut a Montreal-area fluid milk processing plant which it says has aged out of service. The company said Tuesday it will close its milk plant in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, which today employs 67 full-time and 27 “temporary” staff, by late May next year. “Considering the age and condition of the building […] Read more

(Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Pitting supply management against U.S. subsidies seen as ‘unfair’

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — How will Canada’s supply management system stack up against America’s domestic supports if the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) comes to fruition? It’s a question that hasn’t been answered, say some experts from Canada’s farming institutions. “It would be completely unfair if we have to compete with lower prices, because those lower prices are […] Read more


Martin de Groot

When being organic isn’t enough

Their consumers don’t just want organic, says Martin de Groot. They want animal welfare, cow comfort, energy self-sufficiency… and they want to see it all in action

Reading Time: 5 minutes With the milk from their 60-cow, mostly Holstein herd, Martin de Groot, his wife Ineke Booy and their family make their Mapleton’s Organic line of ice creams and fresh and frozen yoghurts in their on-farm dairy at Moorefield, Ont., shipping their winter surplus through Harmony Organic Dairy Products. What they sell is much more, however, […] Read more

(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Dairy farmers worry Trans-Pacific trade deal could hurt

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa | Reuters — Canada’s powerful dairy industry on Friday expressed concern it could suffer if talks to create a Pacific trade treaty open up heavily protected Canadian markets to more foreign competition. Some of the 12 nations taking part in negotiations on a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) want Canada to start dismantling a system known […] Read more


Skim milk powder. (PelchGroup.com)

High-fat dairy demand leaving Ont. skim milk homeless

Reading Time: 3 minutes Strong demand for high-butterfat dairy products, soft demand for fluid milk and maxed-out capacity to make skim milk powder have led Ontario’s dairy farmers in recent weeks to dump surplus skim milk in lagoons. A letter to producers last Friday from Dairy Farmers of Ontario board chairman Ralph Dietrich, intended to “put to rest the […] Read more

(VealFarm.com)

Quebec to halt ASRA for veal sector

Reading Time: 2 minutes Quebec’s farm finance and funding agency plans to remove the veal sector from the province’s ASRA income stabilization program starting next year. La Financiere agricole du Quebec (FADQ) announced Friday that its board had agreed to end ASRA (Assurance stabilisation des revenus agricoles) coverage for Quebec’s milk-fed veal calf operations, effective Jan. 1, 2016. Affected producers, after that […] Read more


(Todd Rosenberg photo via KraftFoodsGroup.com)

Canadian, U.S. regulators clear Heinz and Kraft merger

Reading Time: 2 minutes Antitrust regulators in both Canada and the U.S. have fixed their seals of official inaction on ketchup giant H.J. Heinz’s play for control of Kraft Foods Group. Canada’s Competition Bureau has confirmed that it wrapped its review of the proposed deal and issued its “no action” letter to the companies on Wednesday. A “no action” […] Read more

Quebec Agriculture Minister Pierre Paradis. (MAPAQ.gouv.qc.ca)

Quebec plans new legal status for animals

Reading Time: 2 minutes Quebec’s agriculture minister has tabled a new provincial government bill to raise the legal status of domestic and farmed animals in the province beyond that of “furniture.” Pierre Paradis on Friday introduced Bill 54 in the provincial assembly, with the stated goal of enshrining animals in Quebec’s Civil Code as sentient beings — that is, feeling and […] Read more