Reading Time: 2 minutes A private memorial is planned for long-time Alberta MP Don Mazankowski, whose work in the cabinets of prime ministers Brian Mulroney and Joe Clark included a stint as Canada’s minister of agriculture. Mazankowski, the MP for the east-central Alberta riding of Vegreville from 1968 to 1993, died late Tuesday at age 85, his family said […] Read more
Former federal ag minister Don Mazankowski, 85
Long-time Alberta Tory MP deemed a 'minister of everything'
Bibeau not considering closing AgriInvest accounts
Minister wouldn't order farmers to pull funds
Reading Time: 3 minutes Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau is not considering ordering producers to withdraw from their AgriInvest accounts. “Not in this way. All the options are on the table for the future, but I’ve never considered asking them to withdraw, to empty their accounts, to face COVID-19,” she said in an interview Friday. Bibeau had previously expressed […] Read more
India’s levy cut on lentils part of balancing act
Global markets had zero or little forewarning of decision
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — To Pulse Canada, the recent move by the Indian government to temporarily reduce the import levy on lentils from 30 to 10 per cent is part of a balancing act between competing interests. Greg Cherewyk, president of Pulse Canada, explained that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “looking after the needs of a politically […] Read more
Legalization lifts Canada’s net farm income in 2019
Livestock receipts up, unsmokeable crop receipts lower
Reading Time: 3 minutes A significant year-over-year increase Canada booked last year in realized net farm income rests mainly on 2019’s status as the country’s first full year in the recreational cannabis market. Statistics Canada on Tuesday released full-year data on farm income, pegging Canada’s realized net farm income for 2019 at $4.9 billion — a 10.4 per cent […] Read more
Pandemic to delay StatsCan’s agriculture reports
Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Farmers, commodity traders and market analysts will have to wait a while for agriculture-related reports from Statistics Canada in 2020. The main reason for the delay is the COVID-19 pandemic, said John Seay, an analyst with StatsCan’s agriculture, energy, environment and transportation statistics branch in Ottawa. “Given the COVID-19 outbreak, senior management is […] Read more
Canadian farmland trending less affordable in FCC report
Average values continue rising across board
Reading Time: 3 minutes The average value of farmland in Canada is continuing to rise faster than farmers’ ability to generate revenue from it, Farm Credit Canada’s latest Farmland Values Report suggests. The report, released Monday, shows the average value of Canadian farmland rose 5.2 per cent in 2019 over 2018, the smallest year-over-year increase since 2010, and down […] Read more
Farm equity growth slows in 2018
Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Equity in Canada’s farm sector increased by 3.6 per cent in 2018, hitting $522.2 billion, according to a report Thursday from Statistics Canada. The growth was well below the 6.4 per cent increase reported the previous year, and continued a trend of slower growth since 2013. Realized net farm income was down by […] Read more
China, drought, debt shake Canadian farm finances
Reading Time: 3 minutes Winnipeg/Ottawa | Reuters — For years, the financial stability of Canadian farmers was the envy of their U.S. counterparts, but rising costs, drought and a dispute with China have weakened their bottom lines. Net incomes plunged last year, and that setback was followed in March by China’s halting purchases of canola, Canada’s biggest crop. Now […] Read more
New Trump aid plan for U.S. farmers to rely on direct payments
Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington | Reuters — The Trump administration’s second package of aid for U.S. farmers hit by the trade war with China is expected to have a similar structure to last year’s program, using direct payments and commodity purchases, industry sources briefed on the plan said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is still finalizing the plan, […] Read more
Trump’s tariff war threatens to erode support of farmers
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — President Donald Trump’s tariff battle with key buyers of U.S. apples, soybeans and corn threatens the support of some of his biggest backers — U.S. farmers now seeing their livelihoods in jeopardy. Farmers overwhelmingly supported Trump in the 2016 election, welcoming how he championed rural economies and vowed to repeal estate […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
