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Businesses, U.S. legislators fume as Canada extends travel ban

Trudeau stands firm on ban's extension

Ottawa | Reuters — Canada is extending a ban on nonessential travel with the United States and the rest of the world until July 21, officials said on Friday, prompting frustration from businesses and U.S. legislators. Canada is under pressure from companies and the tourism industry to ease the ban, which was imposed in March […] Read more

Firefighters trained in grain rescue

Firefighters trained in grain rescue

Reading Time: < 1 minute Funding from the Alberta Wheat Commission is helping to provide grain rescue training for firefighters and boost awareness of its BeGrainSafe program, says the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association.  The program is focused on dangers of grain entrapment and includes a website (BeGrainSafe.ca) and training materials. But it also has a training course that prepares firefighters […] Read more


(Flaman Group video screengrab via YouTube)

Clean ag tech adoption fund open for applications

Intake open and ongoing for Agricultural Clean Technology Program

A federal program farmers can use to invest in “cleaner” on-farm equipment — including money specifically for more efficient grain dryers — is now taking applications. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Wednesday announced the $165.7 million Agricultural Clean Technology Program is “now open to applicants.” First launched in 2018 and earmarked for expansion under […] Read more

A grain dryer grant program launched in Alberta last year proved popular, using up all of its $2-million funding allotment. Now Ottawa is rolling out a $50-million federal version.

New federal grain dryer grant program about to launch

Indications are the new $50-million program will look a lot like one launched in Alberta last year

Reading Time: 2 minutes Farmers can start submitting applications this month for a federal program that will cover half of the cost of more energy-efficient grain dryers. Ottawa has set aside $50 million for the so-called “adoption stream” of its $166-million Agricultural Clean Technology Program. Another $10 million will be offered for “powering farms with clean energy and moving off […] Read more


(MyLand.ag)

AGI to buy into soil microbe breeding firm

Machinery maker to take minority stake in MyLand

A U.S. company ramping up a system to harvest, reproduce and restore beneficial microbes from a field’s own soils, as a way to restore peak fertility, expects to get backing soon from a Canadian farm equipment maker. Winnipeg-based Ag Growth International (AGI) said Monday it has signed a conditional letter of intent with Phoenix-based MyLand […] Read more

A Richardson Pioneer grain elevator in Saskatchewan on July 28, 2017. (Scott Prokop Photography/CNW Group/Richardson International)

Richardson building new southwestern Saskatchewan elevator

On-site crop inputs facility to follow

Winnipeg grain firm Richardson International has started work on a new high-throughput grain elevator in southwestern Saskatchewan, to be bookended by smaller elevators it already operates in the region. The company said Monday it began construction work earlier this month at Carmichael, about 65 km southwest of Swift Current, about three km south of the […] Read more


G3 Vermilion grain elevator open for business

G3 Vermilion grain elevator open for business

Reading Time: < 1 minute G3 Canada’s new elevators in Vermilion and Swift Current are now up and running, and receiving deliveries. The Winnipeg-headquartered company, a joint venture of the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company and Bunge, now has 17 elevators — including six in Alberta and nine in Saskatchewan — as well as a new “next-generation” terminal at […] Read more

A Kansas City Southern (KCS) rail car at Toluca, Mexico on Oct. 1, 2018. (File photo: Reuters)/Edgard Garrido)

Kansas City Southern sticks with CN as CP won’t raise bid

CN confident of regulatory approval

Reuters — Kansas City Southern on Friday reiterated that Canadian National Railway’s offer was “superior” after Canadian Pacific Railway refused to raise its bid, moving a step closer to creating the largest-ever merger of North American railways by transaction value. The Canadian rivals have been locked in a takeover battle for the U.S. railroad operator […] Read more


A Kansas City Southern (KCS) rail car at Toluca, Mexico on Oct. 1, 2018. (File photo: Reuters)/Edgard Garrido)

CN bid for U.S. railway poses greater risk to competition, DOJ says

Reuters — The U.S. Department of Justice said on Friday that Canadian National Railway’s bid for U.S. railway operator Kansas City Southern appears to pose greater risks to competition than a rival agreement with Canadian Pacific Railway. The development comes as KCS on Thursday accepted CN’s $33.6 billion acquisition offer, upending the $29 billion deal […] Read more