Reading Time: 2 minutes Buenos Aires | Reuters — Truckers in Argentina began an open-ended strike on Monday to demand higher rates for transporting grain and livestock, an action that could hit grain exports during a key part of the harvest. Argentina, the world’s leading exporter of soy derivatives and second-largest corn exporter, recently started harvesting both grains, which […] Read more
Argentine grain truckers strike, threatening exports amid harvest
No poop for you: Manure supplies run short as fertilizer prices soar
Ontario honeywagon maker all sold out
Reading Time: 5 minutes Chicago | Reuters — For nearly two decades, Abe Sandquist has used every marketing tool he can think of to sell the back end of a cow. Poop, after all, needs to go somewhere. The Midwestern entrepreneur has worked hard to woo farmers on its benefits for their crops. Now, facing a global shortage of […] Read more
AgriRecovery underway for flood-battered B.C. farms
Feds, province put up $228 million
Reading Time: 3 minutes The federal and British Columbia governments’ response to last fall’s destructive flooding now includes what’s said to be the biggest farm disaster recovery package in the province’s history. Provincial Agriculture Minister Lana Popham and her federal counterpart Marie-Claude Bibeau on Monday announced cost-shared funding of $228 million for the Canada-B.C. Flood Recovery for Food Security […] Read more
Biden unveils plan to boost competition in U.S. meat industry
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — The United States will issue new rules and US$1 billion in funding this year to support independent meat processors and ranchers as part of a plan to address a lack of “meaningful competition” in the meat sector, President Joe Biden said Monday. The initiative comes amid rising concerns that a handful of big […] Read more
B.C. calls emergency, expects more deaths from 500-year flood
Some livestock die, more are expected to be euthanized
Reading Time: 3 minutes Abbotsford | Reuters — The death toll in Canada from massive floods and landslides that devastated parts of British Columbia is set to rise, with the province declaring a state of emergency on Wednesday. Authorities have so far confirmed one death after torrential rains and mudslides destroyed roads and left several mountain towns isolated. At […] Read more
Feds lock in AgriRecovery funds before election call
Ottawa's pledged share now up to $500 million
Reading Time: 2 minutes Just hours ahead of a federal election call, the federal government has committed $500 million to cover its share of federal/provincial AgriRecovery support plans for drought-hit farmers across Canada’s West. Shortly before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s visit Sunday to Rideau Hall seeking the dissolution of Parliament for a federal election, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau confirmed […] Read more
B.C. presses for ranchers to register before wildfires hit
Premises ID helps protect livestock in emergencies, province says
Reading Time: 2 minutes British Columbia’s provincial ag ministry hopes to shore up ranchers’ participation in the Premises Identification program against the risk of further wildfires this year. About two-thirds, or 5,200, of B.C.’s non-supply managed livestock producers, and all the supply-managed dairy cattle and poultry premises in the province, are registered in the program, the province said Wednesday. […] Read more
Parliament rises as farm succession bill passes
Manitoba MP's private member's bill clears Senate
Reading Time: 3 minutes With the possibility of a fall election looming, MPs rose from the House of Commons on Wednesday, marking the end to a parliamentary session featuring a handful of laws impacting agriculture. Brandon-Souris MP Larry Maguire saw his private member’s bill, aimed at lowering taxes on the sales of farms and other small businesses, pass in […] Read more
StatsCan shows 2020 farm income up significantly
Farm cash receipts were up more than expenses
Reading Time: 4 minutes Canadian farm income, no matter how it’s measured, was up a lot in 2020, data released Wednesday by Statistics Canada show. Canadian net farm income of $18.1 billion is up $4.8 billion from 2019 — a 36.5 per cent increase. Another measure — realized net farm income (RNFI) — saw farmers take in $9.9 billion, […] Read more
Tensions build over Argentina’s beef export ban
Rural associations pledge pause in livestock trading
Reading Time: 2 minutes Buenos Aires | Reuters — Argentine farm groups will halt trading of livestock in protest against a 30-day government ban on beef exports aimed at bringing down domestic prices, the country’s main producer groups said in a joint statement Tuesday. The South American country’s centre-left Peronist government unveiled the ’emergency measure’ to tamp down high […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
