Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa | Reuters — Canada will not agree to lifting a ban on non-essential travel with the United States until the coronavirus outbreak is significantly under control around the world, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday. Trudeau’s comments were a clear indication that the border restrictions will last well into 2021. The two neighbours […] Read more
U.S. border restrictions to last a long time yet, Trudeau says
COVID would need to be 'significantly more under control'
U.S. fuel industry frazzled as EPA misses biofuel volumes deadline
COVID-19 fallout complicates process
Reading Time: 2 minutes New York | Reuters — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was set to miss a deadline Monday to announce how much renewable fuel the nation’s refiners must blend into their fuel mix next year, raising uncertainty in the fuel market and prompting one biofuel association to threaten to take the agency to court. Under federal […] Read more
China’s coronavirus testing chokes beef trade
Additional inspections, disinfections costly for importers
Reading Time: 3 minutes Beijing | Reuters — In a supermarket in downtown Beijing, refrigerator shelves normally filled with steak from around the world sit empty as tougher testing for the novel coronavirus creates supply bottlenecks and raises prices for importers. Fresh supplies of beef won’t arrive for days, a salesman at the Suning.com-owned Carrefour outlet told Reuters — […] Read more
Canada’s mink farms brace for COVID
Producers have had time to increase biosecurity efforts at the farm level
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada’s 40 mink farms are operating under heightened biosecurity requirements after reports of COVID-19 jumping from humans to mink in Europe. Alan Herscovici, an industry spokesperson who operates the website Truthaboutfur.com, said early reports out of Denmark and other European countries gave Canadian producers some time to prepare. “These farms have always had a certain […] Read more
Atlantic bubble disintegrates as COVID-19 cases rise
Reading Time: 2 minutes Toronto | Reuters — The “bubble” pact between Canada’s four Atlantic provinces has disintegrated in the face of rising COVID-19 cases across the country, as premiers in Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador announced quarantine requirements for all travelers from outside their provinces on Monday. The two provinces joined in a so-called “bubble” with […] Read more
Tyson suspends staff as suit alleges managers set up COVID pool
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Tyson Foods said Thursday it suspended employees without pay and hired former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder to conduct an investigation in response to a wrongful death lawsuit that alleges managers at an Iowa pork plant took bets on how many employees would catch COVID-19. The coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the […] Read more
High food prices hurting India’s poor
Inflation pain expected to persist for months yet
Reading Time: 2 minutes New Delhi | Reuters — India’s retail inflation may stay elevated for at least three more months after hitting a six-year high in October, as excess rain has damaged standing crops and seedlings, while edible oils that the country imports have become expensive. The high prices are a particular cause of concern for India’s hundreds […] Read more
P.E.I. seed potato growers backed for lost sales, costs
Pandemic compensation plan to take applications until mid-January
Reading Time: 2 minutes Seed potato growers on Prince Edward Island who lost sales this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, or have had to store or throw out stock, can soon apply for provincial compensation. The provincial government on Monday announced $1.19 million for a new Seed Potato Recovery Program, for seed growers “who can demonstrate that they […] Read more
Pandemic spurs farm gate milk price hike
Dairy Commission to lift price effective Feb. 1 next year
Reading Time: 2 minutes With the COVID-19 pandemic in mind, the Canadian Dairy Commission has set aside its usual milk price adjustment formula and will instead increase the price based on its own review. The CDC on Monday announced the farm gate price of milk will increase by $1.46 per hectolitre (100 litres) effective Feb. 1, 2021, pending approval […] Read more
Baltic Dry Index at four-month lows
Declining demand seen from China
Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Ocean freight rates have fallen off of their highs of the past year over the course of the past month, but remain well above the lows hit in the spring when global markets first started reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Baltic Dry Index (BDI), a major indicator of shipping rates, has moved […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
