Dinner plate with the flag of Canada on it for your international food and drink concepts.

Ag and food exports: We’re good but we can do better

Agriculture is a Canadian success story but taking it to the next level requires smart and sizable investments, says economist


Reading Time: 3 minutes Sticking to the status quo isn’t good enough to propel Canada into the uppermost ranks of global agricultural exporters. “Over the past year, there’s been quite a bit of optimism around food and agriculture. It’s been identified as one of the main sectors to grow in this country,” said J.P. Gervais, chief agricultural economist for […] Read more


Dried legumes and cereals on a white background

The numbers — and the potential — are big for agri-food exports

Reading Time: 2 minutes There were few surprises in Farm Credit Canada’s annual ranking of Canadian agriculture and agri-food exports. We remain the world’s fifth-largest agricultural commodity exporter for the sixth straight year, and have also held steady as the No. 11 exporter of manufactured food products. But “potential” abounds, says FCC’s chief agricultural economist J.P. Gervais. “There are […] Read more

Norm McNaughton (l) and Pierre Lampron (r) with CanWest DHI chair Ed Friesen. (CanwestDHI.com)

Dairy services organizations create partnership

Three major service providers in Canadian dairy farming have formed a partnership that will result in one company supplying herd management and genetic services to Canadian dairy farmers. The partnership, including CanWest DHI, Valacta and the Canadian Dairy Network (CDN), still has to be approved by farmer-members of the organizations. CanWest DHI provides on-farm testing […] Read more


Keith Currie was acclaimed to a second term as OFA president at the organization’s annual meeting Nov. 20-21 in Toronto. (John Greig photo)

OFA pre-election policy targets broader economic development

Stable rural areas and thriving farms can help urbanites with some of their biggest challenges. That’s the message from the Ontario Federation of Agriculture going into next year’s provincial election. The OFA talked about how it is framing its election strategy at its annual meeting, which ran Monday and Tuesday in Toronto. “With the election […] Read more

(Montpak.ca)

Quebec veal processors merging

The bulk of Quebec’s veal processing capacity is forming up under one banner as Delimax-Montpak gets set to buy its rival Ecolait out of creditor protection. Delimax-Montpak Group announced Friday it has an agreement in principle to buy St-Hyacinthe-based Ecolait for total consideration of $50 million. Delimax-Montpak said Friday the deal “will allow the veal […] Read more



(Video screengrab from CBSA-asfc.gc.ca)

Trade talks a dicey situation, Coyne says

Winnipeg | CNS Canada — With Canada in the midst of negotiations for two different trade agreements, the North American Free Trade Agreement and Trans-Pacific Partnership, trade concerns are getting muddled, according to Andrew Coyne. “We need to be conscious of diversifying our trade interests beyond just North America. It would be extremely foolish that […] Read more