Reading Time: 3 minutes Beijing | Reuters — Chinese companies have stopped buying U.S. agricultural products, China’s commerce ministry said on Tuesday, a blow to U.S. farmers who have already seen their exports slashed by the more than year-old trade war. China may impose additional tariffs on U.S. farm products bought shortly before the purchase ban took effect, China’s […] Read more
U.S. farmers suffer ‘body blow’ as China slams door on farm purchases
FAO, OECD see swine fever in China among risks to food markets
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — The spread of a deadly pig disease in China that has disrupted the world’s biggest pork market is one of the major risks to a well-supplied global agricultural sector, the FAO and OECD said on Monday. African swine fever was highlighted in the annual agricultural outlook for 2019-2028 from the Food […] Read more
Early days
How young is too young to make major farm decisions? Meet Owen Fijala, and get ready to rethink your assumptions
Reading Time: 11 minutes Just like any farm kid, Owen Fijala grew up helping out on the family grain farm near Manitou in south-central Manitoba. Things got a bit different, though, when he got a part-time job helping out a neighbouring beef farmer and he began to get interested in livestock production as well. He’d kept his eyes open, […] Read more
USDA announces more farm aid to offset trade war losses
Reading Time: 4 minutes Washington | Reuters –– The Trump administration on Thursday unveiled a US$16 billion farm aid package to offset losses from a 10-month trade war with China and said payment rates to farmers would be determined by where they farm rather than what crops they grow. The package, the bulk of which will be spent on […] Read more
P.E.I. dairyman named provincial ag and land minister
Reading Time: 2 minutes A Prince Edward Island dairy farmer who unseated the province’s incumbent premier on election night is the new provincial minister for agriculture and land, and for justice and public safety. Bloyce Thompson, the new Progressive Conservative MLA for the district of Stanhope-Marshfield, was sworn in Thursday as a member of incoming Premier Dennis King’s nine-member […] Read more
Farm groups see something for everyone in federal budget
Reading Time: 4 minutes Response so far from farm and agribusiness organizations to Tuesday’s pre-election budget suggests the federal government has managed to find at least one line item for everyone in the ag sector. Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s budget pledges compensation for supply-managed sectors facing financial hits from international trade pacts, funding for a new federal food policy […] Read more
Canada’s Saputo to buy major U.K. dairy firm
Reading Time: 2 minutes A major British dairy company is poised to become the property of one of Canada’s biggest dairy processors in a $1.7 billion all-cash deal. Saputo Inc. announced Friday it has an agreement in place with Dairy Crest Group — the maker of Cathedral City cheese and Country Life butter among other major U.K. dairy brands […] Read more
Louis Dreyfus to exit dairy by mid-2019
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters –– Louis Dreyfus Co. said on Wednesday it would sell or wind down its small dairy business by the middle of this year as part of an overhaul to revive growth at the agricultural commodity giant. Privately-held Louis Dreyfus had previously earmarked dairy as one of several activities to be sold or […] Read more
USMCA costs Canada sovereignty in ag policy, critics warn
Reading Time: 4 minutes Changes to Canadian dairy supply management in the final text of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement give up oversight of the system to the U.S., Canada’s dairy farmer group warns. The trade deal, signed Friday in Buenos Aires by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexico’s outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto, now goes […] Read more
U.S., Canada, Mexico sign trade deal after last-minute brinkmanship
Reading Time: 2 minutes Buenos Aires | Reuters — The leaders of Mexico, Canada and the United States signed a North American trade pact on Friday after brinkmanship over the final details of the deal continued through the eve of the signing. They agreed on a deal in principle to govern the more than trillion dollars of mutual trade […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
