Changes to Canadian dairy supply management in the final text of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement give up oversight of the system to the U.S., Canada’s dairy farmer group warns. The trade deal, signed Friday in Buenos Aires by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexico’s outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto, now goes […] Read more
USMCA costs Canada sovereignty in ag policy, critics warn
Bayer to shed animal health division, others after Monsanto deal
Frankfurt | Reuters — Bayer, the German drugmaker that bought U.S. seed company Monsanto, announced on Thursday the sale of its animal health business and a number of others, around 12,000 job cuts and 3.3 billion euros (C$4.98 billion) in impairments. CEO Werner Baumann is under pressure to boost Bayer’s share price after a drop […] Read more
U.S. government report says climate change will batter economy
Reuters — Climate change will cost the U.S. economy hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century, hitting everything from health to infrastructure, according to a government report issued on Friday that the White House called inaccurate. The congressionally mandated report, written with the help of more than a dozen U.S. government […] Read more
Canada to work with China on trade deal despite USMCA clause, Trudeau says
Singapore | Reuters — Canada and China will continue to work together toward an “eventual” free trade deal, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday. This is despite the country being a signatory to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which specifies that if one of its partners enters a free trade deal […] Read more
Walmart’s LatAm delivery app Cornershop eyes Canada
Mexico City | Reuters — Cornershop, a Latin American grocery delivery app being acquired by Walmart, plans to expand into Canada early next year as a test market for the U.S., an executive for the three-year-old mobile app said. Walmart is buying Cornershop, which offers deliveries in Mexico and Chile, for US$225 million. The deal, […] Read more
La Coop federee to rebrand agribusiness arm
Crop and livestock producers dealing with the agribusiness division of Quebec’s La Coop federee can expect to see a new name in the game early next year. La Coop announced Sept. 25 it will change the name of the division — which today operates under the Elite and La Coop brand names — to Sollio […] Read more
CAQ taps businessman as Quebec’s new ag minister
Quebec’s new governing party has turned to one of its more experienced MNAs to handle the farm file. Premier Francois Legault on Thursday named Andre Lamontagne, a businessman and former supermarket owner and the MNA for the southwestern riding of Johnson, as his minister of agriculture, fisheries and food, and as minister responsible for the […] Read more
U.S. Senate will not vote on USMCA in 2018, McConnell says
Washington | Reuters — The U.S. Senate’s top Republican said on Tuesday that senators will not vote to approve a revised North American trade pact in 2018, leaving the issue to the next Congress. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell told Bloomberg Television that the Senate will not have time to take up the new United […] Read more
CAQ’s ag critic among winners in Quebec election
The agriculture critic for Francois Legault’s Coalition avenir Quebec (CAQ) will be among the party’s returning MNAs as it forms Quebec’s next government. The CAQ pulled a majority government in Monday’s election with 74 seats, defeating Philippe Couillard’s Liberals, who were reduced to 32 seats, followed by Quebec solidaire with 10 seats and the Parti […] Read more
Outrage, acceptance greet Son of NAFTA
Responses from Canada’s farm sectors range from acceptance to anger as concessions and market access granted under the successor to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) come into clearer view. Dairy: ‘Who needs an enemy?’ The new agreement, announced Sunday and dubbed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) by the U.S. government, is expected to […] Read more