Winnipeg/Oslo | Reuters — Two of the world’s biggest fertilizer producers, CF Industries and Yara International, are seeking to cash in on the green energy transition by reconfiguring ammonia plants in the U.S. and Norway to produce clean energy to power ships. The consumption of oil for transportation is one of the top contributors to […] Read more
Facing green push on farm, fertilizer makers look to sea for growth
India offers to suspend farm reforms
Farmers may call off protests
New Delhi | Reuters — India’s government on Wednesday offered to suspend implementation of three new farm laws that have triggered the biggest farmers’ protests in years, which farm union leaders said they would now consider calling off. The cornerstone of the reform, introduced in September, allows private buyers to deal directly with farmers. Angry […] Read more
U.K. to ask to join Trans-Pacific trading bloc ‘shortly’
Bilateral deals signed or in works with several CPTPP members
London | Reuters — Britain will soon submit its application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade bloc, trade minister Liz Truss said on Wednesday. Since deciding to leave the European Union, a process it completed at the end of 2020, Britain has been seeking out new trading arrangements around […] Read more
Provinces’ feet held to fire on AgriStability
Ministers' meeting co-chairs push for progress to allow changes to be made retroactive for 2020
The co-chairs of Canada’s agriculture ministers’ meeting are pushing to get proposed improvements to AgriStability in place sooner than later. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and her Ontario counterpart, Ernie Hardeman, “urge all provincial and territorial ministers to support the proposed changes to the AgriStability program,” they said in a joint statement Tuesday. At a […] Read more
COVID-19 pandemic produces a bumper crop of novice gardeners
Whether it was growing their own food or beautifying the yard, gardening was hot in 2020
Reading Time: 4 minutes Greenhouses, garden centres and nurseries experienced a year like no other in 2020 as first-time gardeners took up trowels and hoes in unprecedented numbers. “Even if people had never planted before, they wanted to grow a garden,” said Tammy Meinecke, manager of Dunvegan Gardens in Grande Prairie. “Everybody was out planting seeds and trying to […] Read more
Canada consulting at home toward Indonesia trade deal
Possibility of broader Southeast Asian pact also looms
Continuing to seek out free trade deals in the Asia-Pacific region, Canada has launched public consultations on the merits of a potential bilateral pact with Indonesia. “Deepening trade ties with Indonesia would benefit Canadian businesses of all sizes and lead to economic growth and prosperity for years to come,” International Trade Minister Mary Ng said […] Read more
India’s top court orders stay on farm laws that riled growers
New Delhi | Reuters — India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered an indefinite stay on the implementation of new agricultural laws that have triggered widespread protest from farmers, saying it wanted to protect farmers and would hear their objections. For more than a month, tens of thousands of farmers have camped on the outskirts of […] Read more
InVivo in talks to acquire French agribusiness Soufflet
Firms see limited overlap outside grain trading
Paris | Reuters — Co-operative group InVivo has entered exclusive talks to acquire family-controlled Soufflet in a deal that would create one of Europe’s biggest agricultural businesses with 10 billion euros (C$15.5 billion) in sales, the French firms said on Wednesday. The potential consolidation comes as France, the European Union’s largest agricultural producer, is trying […] Read more
Mead maker fermenting something new for hamlet of New Sarepta
Reading Time: 3 minutes New Sarepta was long past its heyday when Will Munsey arrived in the mid-2000s, but the hobby farmer turned mead maker is hoping to bring some new life to the sleepy hamlet. “New Sarepta was a really booming little community up until the 1950s, when better roads were built and people started getting individual automobiles […] Read more
Bibeau says government committed to federal plant breeding
Seed royalty consultations stalled
The Canadian government is committed to plant breeding, federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau told members of the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation on Tuesday. Some farmers and seed industry officials suspect Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) variety development work, along with many other programs, will be on the chopping block post-COVID-19 as the government tackles its […] Read more
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