Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, with Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna (l) and Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault (r), speaks at the Dominion Arboretum in Ottawa on Dec. 11, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Blair Gable)

No credit expected for farmers’ past work in new carbon market

Work on protocols for specific projects to begin this spring, department says

Reading Time: 3 minutes Draft regulations for Canada’s new carbon market show Canadian farmers won’t receive credit for removing any greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from the atmosphere prior to 2017. Federal Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson on Friday announced the offset market, to be known as the Federal Greenhouse Gas Offset System. A 60-day public consultation period on draft regulations […] Read more

File photo of fresh cherries from a roadside fruit stand at Penticton, B.C. (Amy Mitchell/iStock/Getty Images)

New EU import curbs on fruit not Canada-specific

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa | Reuters — New European Union rules that could block shipments of Canadian cherries and other fruits to the 28-nation grouping apply to all countries and “was not unusual,” a senior Canadian official said on Friday. The clarification from federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau came a day after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) […] Read more


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Cannabis edibles clear for legal launch before year-end

Reading Time: 2 minutes Food products containing cannabis are expected to be on the retail market by mid-December at the earliest under new federal regulations announced Friday. Health Canada on Friday announced amendments to the Cannabis Regulations will be published June 26 to come into force Oct. 17, laying out rules for legal production and sale of edible cannabis, […] Read more

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New federal standard to expand beer ingredient options

Reading Time: 3 minutes More variety in allowable ingredients and more requirements for declarations are now part of the federal rules on what can be called beer in Canada. The federal government on May 1 announced “modernized” beer standards under Canada’s Food and Drug Regulations (FDR) — the rules laying out the requirements to be met by a product […] Read more


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Trucker shortage troublesome for Prairie cattle industry

Reading Time: 4 minutes CNS Canada — As large volumes of cattle make their way to western Canadian auction marts this fall, buyers are having problems finding truckers to haul them. Those problems may get worse in the future, as federal regulations for cattle hauling could possibly change. “I would say it’s worse this year than other years so […] Read more

Aviation firms report Brazil’s use of crop dusters to be rising at a rate of three per cent per year. (Embraer video screengrab via YouTube)

Brazil cracking down on unmonitored agriculture planes

Reading Time: 2 minutes Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazilian federal prosecutors have demanded civil aviation authorities change regulations to increase oversight of agriculture airplanes such as crop dusters, which they claim can be used to smuggle drugs and agro-chemicals. Prosecutors are calling for the mandatory introduction of a transponder equipment to monitor such planes, and have suggested new […] Read more


(Photo by Lynn Betts, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service)

Industry still looking for new NH3 tank rule break

Reading Time: 2 minutes Fertilizer Canada and the Canadian Association of Agri-Retailers (CAAR) say there will be enough anhydrous ammonia nurse tanks available to supply the fertilizer to farmers during this growing season. New Transport Canada regulations came into force Jan. 12, which affect the frequency of hydrostatic testing and visual inspection of ammonia nurse and applicator tanks and […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Talks wrap on new Canadian internal trade deal

Reading Time: 3 minutes Farm groups across Canada expect a new interprovincial trade agreement to clear paths for more trade in Canadian-grown agrifood and other farmed products within the country, reducing the need for imports. Federal, provincial and territorial ministers on Friday announced they’ve concluded talks on a new Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA), which on July 1 will […] Read more


(MHEby.com)

Livestock transport regulations up for comment

Reading Time: 4 minutes The public can comment until mid-February on proposed new livestock transport regulations which the government says will help Canada line up with international standards and limit how long livestock can go unfed during shipping. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Monday announced amendments to the federal Health of Animals Regulations dealing with transportation have been […] Read more

Farmer in wheat field

Are Canadian farmers becoming more European?

Canada’s farmers are getting more and more regulated. Do we have to become just like Europe?

Reading Time: 7 minutes In the mid-1970s, when David Rolfe made the decision to sell up in rural England and set up shop in rural Manitoba as one of Canada’s newest immigrant farmers, burdensome regulations were certainly part of the equation. It would have been one thing if they had been sensible regulations well-grounded in reasonable desires, which is […] Read more