Reading Time: < 1 minute Stuart Boeve is the new chair of Alberta Milk, succeeding Tom Kootstra, who has served as chair since 2016. Boeve, who farms near Taber, had been the organization’s vice-chair. Gert Schrijver is the new vice-chair while Greg Debbink becomes second vice-chair. Kootstra, Martin Van Diemen and Albert Kamps are all leaving the board, and will […] Read more
Boeve succeeds Kootstra as milk board chair
U.S. border restrictions to last a long time yet, Trudeau says
COVID would need to be 'significantly more under control'
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
Tighter timeline set for dairy farmers’ trade pact compensation
Feather sector compensation pledged with $691 million in programs
Compensation to Canada’s supply-managed farmers, to offset domestic market share dealt away in two recent free trade pacts, will now move more quickly to dairy farmers — and will take the form of new programs for feather sectors. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Saturday announced $1.405 billion in compensation, as pledged in August last […] Read more
Forget Facebook, toss out Twitter — TikTok is the new social media star
Reading Time: 4 minutes Jake Vermeer was enjoying a few beers at an industry meeting last winter when he thought it would be funny to try out TikTok. “I started watching it, and at first, it was kind of stupid. But as you start watching it more, you get more and more addicted,” the young Camrose-area farmer said of […] Read more
Participants wanted for dairy cost study
Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta dairy farmers are wanted for the 2021 edition of the Dairy Cost Study. The pandemic has affected dairy producers, said provincial research analyst Pauline Van Biert. “For the dairy farmer, demand for milk production has fluctuated as processors made adjustments to meet changes in the marketplace,” she said. Participants in the study will receive […] Read more
Pandemic spurs farm gate milk price hike
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Canadian Dairy Commission has set aside its usual milk price adjustment formula and is increasing the price paid to farmers by $1.46 per hectolitre effective Feb. 1. The increase “will partially offset losses incurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic and market trends which have caused revenues to remain below the cost of production,” the […] Read more
Britain, Canada agree on post-Brexit rollover trade deal
Tailor-made comprehensive pact expected to follow
London/Toronto | Reuters — Britain and Canada struck a rollover trade deal on Saturday to protect the flow of almost $35 billion-worth of goods and services between them after Brexit, and vowed to start talks on a bespoke agreement next year. As Britain prepares to end its transition out of the European Union on Dec. […] Read more
Call to pay dairy farmers to quit misses the mark, says Alberta Milk
Report predicts half of dairy farms will go out of business in a decade without sweeping changes in the sector
Report predicts half of dairy farms will go out of business in a decade without sweeping changes in sector
Reading Time: 5 minutes CORRECTED, Nov. 19 — Alberta’s milk sector faces challenges — but a call to pay farmers to quit the business and to overhaul the entire system is off base, say industry officials here. A recent report from the Agri-Food Analytics Lab says that without major changes, Canada could lose half of its dairy farms in […] Read more
Telus’ farm and food sector acquisitions take new shape
Canadian telco giant launches new Telus Agriculture unit
Canadian telco and info tech giant Telus has consolidated its recent — and ongoing — acquisitions in farm tech, ag data management and supply chain management into a single new business unit. The Vancouver company, one of Canada’s “big five” telecommunications firms, on Thursday formally launched Telus Agriculture, billed as “a new business unit dedicated […] Read more
Dairy seminar heads online
Reading Time: < 1 minute This winter’s Western Canadian Dairy Seminar will be held online this year. The internationally known event, entering its 39th year, will be spread out over five days, with each daily session lasting two to three hours, organizers said. This year’s seminar will also feature virtual tours of three progressive dairy operations, a student research presentation […] Read more