Darlene Compton, shown here on provincial budget day in 2020, became Prince Edward Island’s first female ag minister in 2022. (PrinceEdwardIsland.ca)

P.E.I. ag minister, ag critics re-elected

Tories return with majority; Liberals regain official opposition

Reading Time: < 1 minute Prince Edward Island’s incumbent agriculture minister and opposition agriculture critics prevailed in Monday night’s provincial election, in which incumbent premier Dennis King’s Tories were returned with a majority. Darlene Compton, King’s agriculture minister since last summer and his incumbent deputy premier, won re-election Monday for the Progressive Conservatives in her district of Belfast-Murray River. Compton, […] Read more

Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau speaks at the evening reception at the Advancing Women in Agriculture conference in Calgary on March 13, 2023. (Jessika Guse photo)

AWC 2023: Federal ag minister inspired by farm women’s progress

Don't wait to be asked to participate, Bibeau tells AWC West

Reading Time: < 1 minute Calgary — Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau drew applause from delegates attending the Advancing Women in Agriculture (AWC) conference here this week as she acknowledged their efforts for paving her path into politics. Bibeau told delegates attending the 10th annual conference she’s never felt like she’s had to fight for spot at the political table […] Read more


Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis speaks on B.C. Agriculture Day in the provincial legislature on Oct. 25, 2022. (Legislative Assembly Of B.C. video screengrab via Facebook)

Former Mission, B.C. mayor named province’s ag minister

Pam Alexis handling agriculture; Lana Popham moves to tourism file

Reading Time: 2 minutes A rookie MLA and former city mayor from British Columbia’s farming-rich Fraser Valley has been named as the province’s new minister of agriculture and food. Premier David Eby, who assumed the post last month following John Horgan’s resignation, on Wednesday shuffled the provincial cabinet and named Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis to handle the ag and […] Read more

Nate Horner, shown here speaking Oct. 4, 2022 at Southland Trailers at Lethbridge, was named Oct. 21 as Alberta’s minister of agriculture and irrigation. (Alberta government video screengrab via YouTube)

Alberta reorganizes ag portfolio for returning minister

Horner to handle agriculture and irrigation file

Reading Time: 2 minutes Both Alberta and Quebec have re-upped with their incumbent agriculture ministers in cabinet shuffles this week — but incoming Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s shuffle will also streamline that province’s ag portfolio. Chosen by Alberta’s governing United Conservatives (UCP) on Oct. 6 to replace outgoing premier Jason Kenney, Smith on Friday announced Kenney’s incumbent minister of […] Read more


Federal Ag Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau (r) visits the Ag in Motion outdoor farm show near Langham, Sask. on July 20, 2022. (Greg Berg photo)

Ag ministers lock in next policy funding framework

AgriStability compensation rate to rise; new EGS program planned; some agmins decry feds' approach on fertilizer emission cuts

Reading Time: 4 minutes The new federal-provincial ag policy funding framework due to take effect next April 1 will include a new ecological goods and services plan and a sweetened compensation rate for AgriStability. Following meetings this week in Saskatoon, federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and her provincial and territorial counterparts on Friday mapped out the bones of their […] Read more

The minister is on the case: federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau checks out the cab of a new Case IH Magnum tractor during her visit to the Ag in Motion show on July 20, 2022. (Greg Berg photo)

Farmers, exhibitors hail Ag in Motion’s in-person return

Ag ministers check out event on Day 2

Reading Time: 2 minutes Attendance numbers at the first live Ag in Motion in three years are an indication that demand for outdoor farm shows is as high as ever, show director Rob O’Connor says. O’Connor said he wasn’t sure what to expect after momentum building during the show’s first five years was quashed when the COVID-19 pandemic response […] Read more


(William_Potter/iStock/Getty Images)

G7 ag ministers urge end to food export curbs as prices surge

Nations warn against 'speculative behaviour'

Reading Time: 2 minutes Hamburg | Reuters — Global food exporting countries should not restrict food exports after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cut world supplies, agriculture ministers of the G7 group of nations said on Friday. The impact on markets escalated this week as a growing list of food producing countries restricted exports, keeping vital supplies within their borders. […] Read more

File photo of the produce section at a Canadian grocery store. (FatCamera/E+/Getty Images)

Industry-led code of conduct for food retailers on horizon

Fees create 'uncertainty' for producers, processors

Reading Time: 2 minutes A report from a federal-provincial working group says the retail sector has levied an increasing number of fees on suppliers, and is proposing the formation of a code of conduct as a potential solution. Canada’s agriculture ministers are now calling on industry to lead the process. They had formed the working group to study the […] Read more


Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau speaks to media in Winnipeg on Feb. 13, 2020. (Dave Bedard photo)

Yes or no now on AgriStability changes, ag minister says

Farm and commodity groups line up to press provinces for decision

Reading Time: 3 minutes Ottawa’s proposals for changes to the AgriStability farm income stabilization program require a yes or no answer from participating provinces, not more discussion, the federal ag minister said Wednesday. “It has been just over 110 days since we made the offer to the provinces to improve AgriStability,” Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and Winnipeg MP Jim […] Read more

(Glacier FarmMedia Network photo)

Provinces’ feet held to fire on AgriStability

Ministers' meeting co-chairs push for progress to allow changes to be made retroactive for 2020

Reading Time: 3 minutes The co-chairs of Canada’s agriculture ministers’ meeting are pushing to get proposed improvements to AgriStability in place sooner than later. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and her Ontario counterpart, Ernie Hardeman, “urge all provincial and territorial ministers to support the proposed changes to the AgriStability program,” they said in a joint statement Tuesday. At a […] Read more