Reading Time: 3 minutes Lahore | Reuters — Vegetable and fruit prices have soared in markets across Pakistan as devastating rains ruin crops and disrupt supplies, an early sign of how the worst floods in decades are creating food shortages at a time of financial crisis. Pakistan’s 220 million people are already facing rampant inflation, with consumer prices up […] Read more
Produce prices spike in flood-hit Pakistan as food crisis looms
Flooding wrecks crops, hampers logistics
Drought, costs bring U.S. berry giants to maple syrup land
U.S. firms testing commercial production in Quebec, Ontario
Reading Time: 3 minutes Montreal/Ottawa | Reuters — A swath of Canada better known for maple syrup is being tested to mass produce berries normally grown in warmer locales, making it the unexpected beneficiary of extreme weather, local demand and rising costs in traditional growing areas like California. Driscoll’s and grower-owned Naturipe Farms, two of North America’s largest fruit […] Read more
B.C. cherries cleared for export to Korea
Canada-Korea free trade pact a step ahead on lower tariffs
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada’s seven-year-old free trade pact with South Korea already provides for reduced tariffs on cherries from British Columbia — a commodity that’s just been approved for export to Korea for the first time starting this month. Canadian agriculture and food safety officials announced Aug. 10 that talks with Seoul on import rules and certifications had […] Read more
Bayer, BASF win new trial on damage award in U.S. dicamba suit
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Bayer and BASF have won a new trial on US$60 million in punitive damages they were ordered to pay a Missouri peach farmer who said dicamba, a herbicide they produced, drifted onto his orchard and harmed his crops. The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that a federal jury was wrongly told […] Read more
Hepatitis A outbreak linked to organic strawberries
Cases reported in two provinces, three states
Reading Time: < 1 minute Washington | Reuters –– Food safety regulators in both Canada and the U.S. are investigating a hepatitis A outbreak potentially linked to tainted organic strawberries that has sickened 17 people in the U.S. and 10 in Canada, the agencies said. Fifteen illnesses were reported in California, and one each in Minnesota and North Dakota, the […] Read more
Three farms find ways to live it up
Yes, farms can aim at five-star markets, as Nuffield farms show around the world
Reading Time: 7 minutes When we think of farm diversification here in Canada, we usually imagine new crops or livestock, maybe some value-adding, or possibly some entry-level agri-tourism. How often, though, would you think of going after the top end of a luxury market? Below, meet three farms that have successfully diversified their income streams by targeting luxury offers […] Read more
Prizes put up to develop year-round berry production in Canada
Weston Foundation's new challenge backed with $33 million
Reading Time: 3 minutes A philanthropic foundation focused on improving public health now wants to improve diets by finding ways to juice up Canada’s home-grown fruit supplies. The Weston Family Foundation on Tuesday pledged $33 million over six years for what it calls the Homegrown Innovation Challenge, a prize challenge pitting ideas against ideas with the goal of extending […] Read more
A young farmer’s fresh start
These days, when everybody knows it’s impossible to become a farmer if you weren’t born on a farm, miracles do sometimes happen, as long as there’s some business smarts on the scene
Reading Time: 10 minutes Everyone who farms has a story about how they chose the life, whether they were born into it or started from scratch. And no matter who tells the tale, it always involves some luck, some good timing, lots of learning and pure determination. Maybe in this case, though, it depended more on the stars than […] Read more
Smoothie cubes pulled for raw elderberry use
Quebec company's 'Immunity' smoothies under recall; illnesses reported
Reading Time: 3 minutes Federal food safety officials say a Quebec company’s new line of frozen smoothie cubes, sold online, is being recalled over its use of raw elderberries and a resulting potential risk of cyanide poisoning. Montreal-based Evive Nutrition, known in part for its pitch on CBC TV’s Dragons’ Den in 2019, is recalling its Evive brand Immunity […] Read more
Canada resists pressure to drop vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers
Reading Time: 3 minutes Ottawa | Reuters — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is pushing ahead with a vaccine mandate for international truckers despite increasing pressure from critics who say it will exacerbate driver shortages and drive up the price of goods imported from the United States. Canada will require all truckers entering from the U.S. to show proof […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
