(CBSA via YouTube)

Canada shuts to seven African countries’ travelers

Latest COVID-19 variant spurs decision

Reading Time: < 1 minute Ottawa | Reuters — Canada is closing its borders to foreign travelers who have recently been to seven southern African nations to help stop the spread of a newly identified variant of COVID-19, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos told reporters Friday. The European Union, the United States and Britain are among those tightening border controls as […] Read more

“We’re on the cusp of an industrial revolution within the agriculture sector,” says one senior economist at RBC.

Multiple choice(s) for an ag education

Finding the best way to integrate business studies with farm skills is becoming an educational must

Reading Time: 7 minutes It takes a ton of skilled farmers — and workers — to manage Canada’s 40 million acres of grains, 25 million acres of oilseeds, 14 million hogs and 12 million cattle. And, increasingly, that means not just time in the field and barn, but also in the office, in the meeting room and on the […] Read more


Six questions to ask when choosing a post-secondary program

Reading Time: 2 minutes Some students have their post-secondary education plans mapped out early, with an eye to a specific major, degree or institution. Others are less sure about the next steps. Before choosing a program, consider these six questions: What are your career goals? If you want to return to the family farm to manage crop production or […] Read more

File photo of a CN locomotive in Winnipeg. (Dave Bedard photo)

CN to reopen to Vancouver Wednesday

Prince Rupert also available, CN reminds shippers

Reading Time: < 1 minute Canadian National Railway (CN) says it’s almost set to resume some service to Vancouver, starting early Wednesday. Montreal-based CN said in an emailed statement Tuesday that repair work on damaged sections of its track from Kamloops to Vancouver “progressed well over the weekend” and the line will reopen to “limited traffic” tomorrow “barring any unforeseen […] Read more


GM’s CAMI assembly plant at Ingersoll, Ont. (GM.ca)

GM aims to tackle chip shortage with new designs

Chip-making investments to be in U.S., Canada

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — General Motors aims to tackle the global semiconductor shortage with new designs built in North America, president Mark Reuss said on Thursday. Reuss told an investor conference GM is working with seven chip suppliers on three new families of microcontrollers that will reduce the number of unique chips by 95 per cent on […] Read more

Ten-year-old Balsam fir trees on Nov. 12, 2021 at Downey Tree Farm and Nursery at Hatley, Que., about 30 km south of Sherbrooke. (File photo: Reuters/Christinne Muschi)

B.C. floods may tighten market for real Christmas trees

'We're basically shut down until the water recedes'

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa | Reuters — Finding the perfect real Christmas tree will be harder and more expensive this year. Canada, the world’s top exporter of natural Christmas trees, is grappling with a shortage that will likely be exacerbated by historic flooding in British Columbia, where some tree farms are underwater. A phenomenon known as an atmospheric […] Read more


Cows that were stranded in a flooded barn at Abbotsford, B.C. are rescued on Nov. 16, 2021 by people in boats and on a jet-ski after rainstorms lashed the province, triggering landslides and floods and shutting highways. (Photo: Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters)

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

An aerial view shows a damaged road as a flood sweeps through, near Lytton, B.C. on Nov. 15, 2021. (Handout photo from B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure via Reuters)

B.C. rains shut CN, CP mainlines and Highways 1, 7

Repairs already underway, CN says

Reading Time: 2 minutes The effects of rainstorms pelting southern British Columbia’s Interior have reached into the Prairies by effectively cutting off grain traffic to Vancouver. Canadian National Railway said Tuesday that heavy rainfalls in the region have led to mudslides and washouts on its network. Crews are inspecting affected areas and “carrying out repairs which are critical to […] Read more


Flooded roads are seen near Chilliwack, B.C. on Nov. 15, 2021 after rainstorms lashed parts of the province, triggering landslides and floods and shutting highways. (Photo: Reuters/Jennifer Gauthier)

Severe B.C. rainstorms spur landslides, shut roads

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa | Reuters — Canadian helicopters carried out multiple missions on Monday to rescue hundreds of people trapped in their vehicles on a highway after huge rainstorms sparked landslides in British Columbia. The rainstorms that started on Sunday triggered landslides, shut roads, prompted the evacuation of an entire community, forced an oil pipeline to close […] Read more

Tom Button

Editor’s Note: A different start for a different world

Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada’s agricultural colleges and universities deserve loud praise for the energy they have poured into re-imagining post-secondary ag education. But not everything is new. In fact, the whole farm education sector has responded impressively at a time when it must seem that everything is in constant change.  Technology has changed how programs can be delivered, […] Read more