Reading Time: 3 minutes CNS Canada — Statistics Canada’s latest Farm Product Price Index marks a year of annual declines, predominantly led by the cattle sector. The whims of the market are one source of losses, but two producer group heads say the data call attention to the country’s processing sector. Year-over-year declines in Canada’s Farm Product Price Index […] Read more
Falling farm gate prices highlight ‘long overdue’ topic
Manitoba surveying farmers on KAP funding system
Reading Time: 3 minutes The Manitoba government wants “farmers’ and stakeholders'” feedback on potential changes to Keystone Agricultural Producers’ (KAP) funding model — and fast. The deadline to fill out an online survey or download and email it in is March 9, the government said in a release Thursday. “The current approach to funding our province’s general farm organization […] Read more
Duration limit lifted from foreign worker program
Reading Time: 3 minutes Canadian farm groups are among the sectors hailing Ottawa’s decision to axe the cumulative duration rule, or “four-in, four-out” policy, which stood to sideline temporary foreign workers from the Canadian market. The federal government announced last Tuesday (Dec. 13) it would lift the restriction, effective immediately. The cumulative duration rule had been in place in […] Read more
Manitoba farmers feel left out on farm policy tour
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada –– Manitoba has been dropped from an upcoming consulting tour meant to lay the foundation for Canada’s next agricultural policy funding framework. That will limit the province’s producers, the head of an industry group says. The House of Commons’ standing committee on agriculture and agri-food is holding a consulting tour to hear from […] Read more
Fertilizer merger highlights big-picture concerns
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — A multi-billion-dollar merger between two major crop input companies is the latest in a string of consolidation efforts in North America’s agriculture industry, drawing attention again to the possible effects on the value chain. Agrium and PotashCorp announced Monday they plan to combine to create an integrated global supplier of crop inputs, […] Read more
PotashCorp, Agrium merger would send farmers to regulators
Reading Time: 3 minutes Winnipeg/Chicago | Reuters — North American farmers will pressure regulators to protect their negotiating leverage with fertilizer suppliers if PotashCorp and Agrium agree to merge, major farm groups said on Wednesday. The potential deal revealed on Tuesday would combine the world’s largest fertilizer producer by capacity, with the continent’s biggest network of farm retail dealers, […] Read more
When farm leaders meet provincial politics
Does it always pay to put your “X” beside the farmer’s name on the ballot?
Reading Time: 8 minutes It isn’t a unique story. In the late fall of 2010, Manitoba farmer Ian Wishart called a press conference to announce that he was heading into provincial politics, and that he had decided to seek the Progressive Conservative nomination for his Portage la Prairie constituency. Until then, Wishart had been the well-regarded president of the […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
