Canada’s government has lined up a new federal deputy minister for agriculture and a new president for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, both to take office later this month. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday announced a shuffle in the top ranks of the public service involving 11 senior managers following four recent retirements. Associate […] Read more
Feds appoint new deputy ag minister, CFIA chief
Eleven senior civil servants shuffled
New U.S. ag trade chief demands Canada broaden dairy quota access
USTR's new ag rep's eyes also on Mexico GM corn ban
Washington | Reuters — Canada must let U.S. processors of cheese, ice cream, yogurt, milk powder and other dairy products have access to its import quotas to resolve a second U.S. dairy trade challenge, Washington’s new agricultural trade boss told Reuters. Doug McKalip, chief agricultural trade negotiator for the U.S. Trade Representative’s office, told Reuters […] Read more
Alberta plans new ag processing tax credit
Incentive to be introduced in 2023 budget
Alberta has telegraphed plans for a new provincial tax credit in its upcoming budget to spur development in the ag processing sector. The province on Tuesday announced plans for what it calls the Alberta Agri-Processing Investment Tax Credit — a 12 per cent, “non-refundable” tax credit for corporations making capital investments in “value-added agri-processing” in […] Read more
Saputo to consolidate U.S. cheesemaking, shut three plants
Plans include one new plant, one repurposed
The Canadian company ranked among the three biggest cheesemakers in the U.S. is preparing to consolidate five of its cheese plants in that country down to two. Montreal-based Saputo announced last Thursday it has construction underway on a new $240 million cut-and-wrap cheese plant in the Milwaukee suburb of Franklin, to be up and running […] Read more
Chequebook will get a workout, but a good year expected
Economist predicts a five per cent rise in input costs, but says commodity prices should stay high
Reading Time: 3 minutes Think the 2022 crop was the most expensive ever put into the ground? This year might give it a run for its money. The good news, such as it is, is that input costs are no longer shooting up as fast as they did last year. “For 2023 we’re expecting an increase (in fertilizer prices) […] Read more
Canada’s wheat farmers get a warm welcome abroad
‘Keep growing wheat’ message repeatedly delivered
Reading Time: 5 minutes “Glad to see you again — even more glad that you’ve got a full crop to sell this year.” That was the theme of nearly every conversation that farmers and grain sector representatives on the New Crop Missions heard as they travelled for the first time since the pandemic began. “I think the supply chain […] Read more
Federal NDP ag critic to handle food inflation file
Mini-shuffle follows new critic portfolio
Canada’s federal New Democrats have appointed their critic for agriculture and agri-food to a new point position on a major issue for the fourth-ranked opposition party. After the House of Commons resumed sitting last Monday (Jan. 30), NDP leader Jagmeet Singh on Friday named Alistair MacGregor, MP for the Vancouver Island riding of Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, to […] Read more
Schoepp: With political will and good policy, you can accomplish a lot
The impressive growth in Quebec’s greenhouse sector is an example of what can be accomplished
Reading Time: 3 minutes This past year Quebec reached a milestone in being able to supply a full 50 per cent of greenhouse vegetables consumed in the province. The veggies that are widely grown in the province’s greenhouses are tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and lettuce. I have been in vegetable fields and greenhouses throughout Canada and abroad, and the abundance […] Read more
Olymel to shut two pork processing plants
Triomphe ham, deli meat plants to close in late April
Meat packer Olymel is set to close a chapter in its acquisition history when it shuts down two Montreal-area pork further-processing plants it bought five years ago. Olymel, a division of ag co-operative Sollio, announced Wednesday it will close the former Aliments Triomphe plant at Blainville and its sister plant about 18 km southeast at […] Read more
Beef consumption to rise in China, JBS predicts
China seen as more competitive in domestic chicken, pork markets
Sao Paulo | Reuters — Demand for beef in China is expected to rise as the country still has relatively low per capita consumption, Gilberto Tomazoni, chief executive of JBS SA, said on Wednesday during a business conference. He said Brazil and the U.S., where JBS has meat facilities, are well positioned to meet China’s […] Read more
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