Reading Time: 7 minutes Behind the scenes in Canada’s food-processing industry, countless entrepreneurs are conjuring up new business opportunities by making more efficient use of our crops, including through improved processing and the use of previously wasted portions stock. Watching over and assisting many of these developers is Roberta Irving, who is in charge of business development at the […] Read more
Picking up business
New food-processing technologies are creating a new era of opportunities, including for crops that just get plowed under today
Getting serious about local food
Philly Markowitz is fired up about supporting local farmers in an effort to build up rural communities throughout Ontario’s Grey County
Reading Time: 8 minutes Generations of rugged farmers have worked this rugged landscape. They’ve run cattle, they’ve pastured sheep, they’ve planted crops. None of it has been easy. South of Georgian Bay, the county’s highlands are notoriously cold, the ground rolls unpredictably in all directions, and the soil is just plain tough. If Grey County was an old building, […] Read more
Wal-Mart jumps into milk processing
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Wal-Mart said it will build a dairy processing plant in Indiana to supply private-label milk to about 600 stores, curtailing business with some suppliers in the retailer’s sole foray into food processing in the U.S. The move — announced by Wal-Mart last Friday but not widely reported by media until Tuesday — helped […] Read more
A recipe and a dream
What does it take to add value to Canadian crops? Good entrepreneurial skills and, as you’ll see, a little bit more
Reading Time: 7 minutes Value-added agriculture on the prairies might conjure images of a large-scale industry whose size reflects the immensity of the wheat, lentil and canola fields that stretch as far as the eye can see. And you might think it’s mostly farmers formulating products that add value to what they grow. After all, it sounds so right […] Read more
Is your idea marketable?
The BioEnterprise model could help you get your project off the ground
Reading Time: 4 minutes Farmers are known for being natural innovators, and for finding ways of doing things faster, better or easier. What farmer hasn’t thought at least once: “This is a great idea — I bet I could sell it.” But the reality is that there is a long and difficult road between “the great idea” and a […] Read more
Peas — your morning cereal
Cereal manufacturers are looking to counter declining sales by increasing the nutritional content of their products
Reading Time: 3 minutes As the quality of processed foods faces greater scrutiny from consumers and media, the food industry has responded by focusing greater attention on improving nutrition in their products. Cigi (Canadian International Grains institute) is currently working with an international pulse task force led by representatives from major food-processing companies, food equipment manufacturers, millers, and the […] Read more
U.S. bird flu causes egg shortage, emergency measures
Reading Time: 4 minutes Chicago/New York | Reuters — As a virulent avian influenza outbreak continues to spread across the Midwestern U.S., some egg-dependent companies are contemplating drastic steps — importing eggs from overseas or looking to egg alternatives. A spokeswoman for Archer Daniels Midland said that as egg supplies tighten and prices rise, the food processing and commodities […] Read more
A gluten-free market for pulses
A new Cigi project may help western pulses tap into growing nutritional demand
Reading Time: 3 minutes The use of pulses as ingredients to improve nutritional levels in gluten-free commercial food products is the focus of a four-year project that began last April at Cigi (Canadian International Grains Institute). Gluten-free products have been on the radar for the pulse industry for some time, says Heather Maskus, project manager for pulse flour milling […] Read more
Grow it or lose it
IP soybeans are at a crossroads. We need to grow more, but will the higher premiums drive Japanese buyers away?
Reading Time: 5 minutes On a sunny morning, early last September, a large crowd of growers gathered for an open-house event at Ceresco, a major soybean-specialized seed company and exporter in Quebec. After touring the plots, groups sat in a shed for a talk about the IP soybean market with co-owner Thierry Gripon. Gripon had a few public confessions […] Read more
“Let’s make some food”
Canada has enormous potential to increase irrigation in Saskatchewan. So why is so little happening?
Reading Time: 7 minutes Using only 20 per cent of the available supply, there is enough water running through Saskatchewan’s Gardiner Dam at Lake Diefenbaker to irrigate half a million acres. The potential for farm diversification and value-added processing would add billions to the national agriculture economy and cement Canada’s role in feeding a hungry world. And the other […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
