Reading Time: 2 minutes The Canadian and Ontario governments have signed an agreement that will see $1.5 billion of Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) money available to be spent in the province. Ontario Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal said the five-year program will start April 3, which, he added, will mean a seamless transition between the current federal-provincial agriculture and food […] Read more
Ontario, Canada sign $1.5 billion CAP agreement
Federal programs set for Growing Forward sequel
Reading Time: 2 minutes Market development, product development and overall sector development are among the priorities in the federal government’s five-year funding plan for the ag sector. Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay, speaking Friday at Canadian Western Agribition in Regina, announced a $1 billion suite of six federally funded programs to roll out through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. The Canadian […] Read more
Ex-agriculture minister Gerry Ritz quits Commons
Reading Time: 2 minutes Gerry Ritz, the federal minister for agriculture and agri-food for nine years in Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, is done with federal politics. The MP for the western Saskatchewan riding of Battlefords-Lloydminster since 1997, Ritz announced via Twitter Thursday morning that he “will not be returning to my seat in the House of Commons this fall.” […] Read more
Greig: A year of farm policy decisions ahead for Ontario
Reading Time: 4 minutes Ontario’s agriculture minister stands by his decision to halt a process that was expected to open up how processing tomatoes are priced in the province. Jeff Leal’s decision, announced in August, resulted in a Dec. 21 threat from Ontario’s largest tomato processors to significantly cut back their tomato purchases from Ontario farmers in 2017. Processing […] Read more
Canada invests in Canadian biomass and composites industries
Reading Time: < 1 minute Federal and provincial governments are investing up to $2.9 million to the Composites Innovation Centre Manitoba for two initiatives. The funds will go towards the development of quality standards and measurement techniques for Canadian biomass, and research into overcoming technology barriers to the adoption of natural fibres in the composites industry, a news release says. […] Read more
Deciding on AgriStability
AgriStability has never been popular with farmers, and there’s a burgeoning lobby to get it improved. But keeping your farm enrolled still looks like the right move
Reading Time: 9 minutes If you ask farmers what they think of AgriStability, chances are you’ll hear grumbling, some of it pretty loud. But as farm groups gear up to negotiate with the federal government over the next round of Growing Forward programs, it’s time to examine what’s actually working, what’s not, and what’s misunderstood about the program. What’s […] Read more
Okanagan producers adopt climate adaptation strategy
Reading Time: 2 minutes Agricultural producers and local governments in the Okanagan region are getting ready for the possibility of hotter, drier summers and different pest pressures under climate change. The B.C. Agriculture and Food Climate Action Initiative (CAI) brought agricultural producers together with local governments and provincial agencies to identify collaborative solutions and actions to adapt to the […] Read more
Report discusses disseminating agricultural research
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Agricultural Institute of Canada (AIC) says the next suite of Growing Forward programs should include funds dedicated to communicating about research to the general public. Its 2016 Conference Report (the Report), which summarizes the need for the agricultural sector to better disseminate research results to producers, farmers, industry, academia, consumers and among the research […] Read more
Ottawa seeks feedback ahead of Growing Forward sequel
Reading Time: 2 minutes The federal government has set up a new web-based questionnaire to gather farmer and industry feedback on the Growing Forward 2 (GF2) ag policy funding framework as it develops the next framework. The next agricultural policy funding framework is due to launch April 1, 2018, the government said in a release Monday. The first phase […] Read more
Puree processor gets GF2 funds for expansion
Reading Time: 2 minutes A Portage la Prairie food processor that converts culled vegetables into nutritional purees has received $582,000 from the federal-provincial Growing Value program to increase its capacity. Canadian Prairie Garden Puree Products has acquired new equipment and modified its existing operation in order to cook more types of fruits, vegetables and pulse crops like chickpeas, navy […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
