Canada Beef at a 2022 hotel promotion with Marriott Hotel Kaohsiung in Taiwan. (Photo courtesy Canada Beef)

Taiwan pledges full access for Canadian beef

Market to reopen in 'a couple weeks,' minister says

Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadian beef exporters can expect to regain full market access to Taiwan within the next couple of weeks, Canada’s international trade minister said Thursday. Posting on Twitter Thursday from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trade ministers’ meeting in Detroit, Mary Ng said Taiwanese officials have confirmed the decision, which she hailed as “great news […] Read more

File photo of tobacco fields at Vinales in western Cuba. (Nikada/E+/Getty Images)

U.S. ag businesses want Biden to allow more investment in Cuba

Canadian investment 'significant' in Cuban business

Reading Time: 2 minutes Havana | Reuters — U.S. agribusinesses, on a trade tour in Cuba, said on Tuesday they were “losing” in their bid to boost commerce with Cuban farmers and called on the Biden administration to ease restrictions and allow them to invest in private agriculture on the island. U.S. President Joe Biden last May loosened restrictions […] Read more


National politics came to the aid of Ed and Harriet Pinckney’s farm plans.

Home ground

In New Zealand, farmer Ed Pinckney helped his entire country see the cost of being so open to Chinese investment

Reading Time: 7 minutes While they may be in different hemispheres and on opposite sides of the world, there are a lot of similarities between New Zealand and Canada. The New Zealand economy is driven by their land and natural resources. So is Canada’s. Our agriculture is heavily dependent on exports. So is theirs. The Kiwis export nearly 90 […] Read more

File photo of a rye field in Kazakhstan. (Stsmhn/iStock/Getty Images)

Kazakhstan’s president orders ban on foreign ownership of farmland

Reading Time: < 1 minute Almaty | Reuters — Kazakhstan will permanently ban foreigners from owning or renting farmland in the vast central Asian nation, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Thursday, ending a lengthy dispute that once prompted anti-government protests. Kazakhstan is a major producer of grains, oilseeds and meat in the former Soviet region sandwiched between China and Russia […] Read more


File photo of a combine harvesting a wheat crop in Ukraine. (SergBob/iStock/Getty Images)

Ukraine president plans farmland reform, large privatizations

Reading Time: 2 minutes Kiev | Reuters — Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy ordered his new government to submit a draft law for land market reform by the start of October and to prepare large-scale privatizations of state companies starting in April next year. Zelenskiy has pledged to lift a longstanding ban on the sale of farmland, a move that […] Read more

Foreign control in the oil and gas extraction sector is up more than 15 per cent since 2012.  Photo: File

Foreign control in Canadian ag sector still relatively low

Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada – The percentage of foreign control, as a percentage of total assets, in the Canadian agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting sector was 1.6 per cent in 2016, according to data recently released by Statistics Canada. While that’s up from 1.1 per cent in 2012, it compares with foreign control in all industries (excluding […] Read more


Beni Abbes, a village in western Algeria. (Cia.gov)

Algeria to open farming concessions to foreigners

Reading Time: 2 minutes Algiers | Reuters — Algeria plans to offer foreign investors concessions for farm land for the first time, according to an official document, as the oil producer seeks to boost food output and reduce reliance on imports. Under the plan, which is expected to be discussed by the cabinet this week before being submitted to […] Read more

Women like Geetaben Patel are at the heart of India’s White Revolution 2.0.

White Revolution 2.0

While Canada and the U.S. clash over NAFTA, Cargill, Nestlé and other global dairy giants are pumping their money into India

Reading Time: 7 minutes India is the world’s largest dairy producer, thanks to the “White Revolution” that it launched shortly after the country’s independence in 1947, when it first gave itself the goal of replacing dairy imports and promoting self-sufficiency. Now, the country has embarked on a White Revolution 2.0 that will keep its borders closed to imports of […] Read more


(Leg.bc.ca)

B.C. Greens seek limits on foreign ownership of farmland

Reading Time: 2 minutes The party holding the balance of power in British Columbia’s legislature wants to curb foreign ownership of farmland in the province’s Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR). Green Party leader Andrew Weaver on Thursday introduced the Property Law Amendment Act as a private member’s bill, which he said “would prohibit foreign entities from purchasing ALR land over […] Read more

Syngenta’s Interaction Centre at Stein, Switzerland. (Syngenta.com)

U.S. senators call for review of Syngenta takeover

Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. government panel that reviews foreign acquisitions should assess the impact on domestic food security from state-owned China National Chemical Corp’s planned US$43.1 billion acquisition of Swiss seeds and pesticide maker Syngenta AG, four U.S. senators said in a letter Thursday. The letter, sent to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, also […] Read more