The Bank of Canada in Ottawa. (Video screengrab from BankofCanada.ca)

Bank of Canada interest rate cut to give some borrowers relief

Effects on financial markets likely to be muted says FCC economist

Reading Time: < 1 minute The Bank of Canada trimmed its key policy rate on Wednesday to 4.75 per cent from a 23-year high of five per cent. Inflation is now running at 2.7 per cent, above the central bank's two per cent target, but down from a high of 8.1 per cent in June 2022, Reuters reported.





Photo: yalcinsonat1/iStock/Getty Images

Food and beverage sales to fall in 2024; processor margins to improve

Stabilizing or declining input prices working their way through the supply chain, FCC says

Reading Time: 2 minutes Farm Credit Canada is predicting Canadian food and beverage sales will fall slightly this year as consumers manage tight budgets. Gross margins, however, should increase as the effects of falling commodity prices work their way through the supply chain, the farm lender said in an April 9 news release.

File photo of northern Alberta farmland. (Wonganan/iStock/Getty Images)

Farmland value growth slowed in 2023, FCC says

Saskatchewan, Quebec and Manitoba saw strongest growth in 2023, report shows

Reading Time: 2 minutes Farmland is still getting more expensive, but not quite as quickly as in recent years, according to the latest farmland value report from Canada’s biggest agricultural lender.



(Dave Bedard photo)

FCC predicts drop in farm cash receipts for 2024

Interest rates, inputs costs may come down but farmers urged to sharpen their pencils

Reading Time: 2 minutes FCC's top economist is urging farmers to find any way they can to save money, as the ag lender projects a 4.8 per cent decline in farm cash receipts in 2024 on the heels of lower commodity prices.


(Dave Bedard photo)

FCC announces new 4R incentive

The program is open to FCC customers who use AgExpert platform

Reading Time: < 1 minute FCC announced the new Sustainability Incentive Program at the Western Canadian Crop Production Show in Saskatoon. The program is open to FCC customers who put a 4R nutrient management plan in place, record production activities through AgExpert Field, and have their 4R practices verified by a 4R designated agronomist.

Andrea Borodenko and Antoine Casimir have acquired Quebec’s Production Lareault.(CNW Group/Production Lareault)

Major strawberry plant producer changes hands

New owners get funding to buy Lareault business

Reading Time: 2 minutes The Quebec company billed as Canada’s largest producer of strawberry plants has picked up new ownership after nearly 70 years. Production Lareault, based on just over 450 acres at Lavaltrie, Que. — about 40 km northeast of Montreal, in the province’s Lanaudiere region — has been acquired by investors Antoine Casimir and Andrea Borodenko for […] Read more