Reading Time: 2 minutes Geneva | Reuters — Swiss voters on Sunday rejected a proposal to ban factory farming in a referendum on whether the wealthy country’s strict animal welfare laws need to be tightened yet further. The government’s VoteInfo App showed a provisional result of 62.86 per cent of votes against the proposal, put to a referendum under […] Read more
Swiss reject initiative to ban factory farming
Voters back narrowly back rise in women's retirement age to 65
Quebec’s UPA hit by ransomware attack
Farm organization, affiliate bodies affected
Reading Time: 2 minutes Quebec’s overarching farmer organization, l’Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA), has confirmed its computer systems were hit by a ransomware attack earlier this month. UPA, in a release last Thursday, said it’s working with a cybersecurity firm to analyze the nature and scope of the attack, as well as any possible solutions to securely restore its […] Read more
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
P.E.I. finance minister moves to ag file
Darlene Compton named agriculture minister in shuffle
Reading Time: < 1 minute Prince Edward Island’s deputy premier now handles the provincial agriculture file following a cabinet shuffle Friday. Premier Dennis King has named Darlene Compton, MLA for the riding of Belfast-Murray River, as minister of agriculture and land, justice and public safety minister and attorney general, replacing Stanhope-Marshfield MLA Bloyce Thompson. Thompson, who had handled the ag […] Read more
Partnership gives Prairie ag students new 800-acre opportunity
Saskatchewan farmland bequest expanded Smart Farm eastward
Reading Time: 2 minutes Students from Saskatchewan Polytechnic and Olds College will be getting more opportunities to collaborate with each other on a large scale. The two institutions have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which entails both schools working together for five years on various programs, notably Olds College’s Smart Farm operation. The partnership comes as a result […] Read more
Ontario ag minister returns in another Tory majority
Lisa Thompson retains seat in election
Reading Time: 2 minutes Ontario’s governing Progressive Conservatives will head back to the legislature with their incumbent agriculture minister at the caucus table. Lisa Thompson, Premier Doug Ford’s minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs since June last year, easily held her southwestern riding of Huron-Bruce in Thursday’s provincial election by a spread of 15,594 votes over Liberal challenger […] Read more
Drought gone in Manitoba but worsening in Alberta, AAFC reports
Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Record-breaking precipitation in southern Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan helped improve moisture conditions in the region in April, taking much of the area out of the drought classification, according to the latest Drought Monitor report from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) for the period ended April 30. Two separate Colorado lows brought significant snow, […] Read more
Changes to TFW program to expand worker availability
Workplace LMIAs now valid for 18 months
Reading Time: 3 minutes The federal government is boosting the availability of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) to ag and other understaffed sectors under a list of policy changes announced Monday. Employment and Workforce Development Minister Carla Qualtrough announced what’s called the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program Workforce Solutions Road Map, which the government said “marks the next step in […] Read more
Food, farming, forestry must be transformed to curb global warming, UN says
Earlier draft of panel report called for reduced intake of meat
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Protecting forests, changing diets, and altering farming methods could contribute around a quarter of the greenhouse gas cuts needed to avert the worst impacts of climate change, according to the United Nations’ climate panel. But the changes are unlikely to happen unless governments act to spur them along, the report from the Intergovernmental […] Read more
Canada lays out $9.1 billion roadmap to meet 2030 climate targets
About $1 billion earmarked for new or expanded ag programs
Reading Time: 3 minutes Reuters — Canada released its first real roadmap to meeting 2030 climate targets on Tuesday, laying out detailed plans and $9.1 billion in new spending to cut planet-warming carbon emissions after years failing to meet its goals. The Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) is the first time Canada has had a comprehensive plan, rather than just […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
