Steve Breum launched Alberta Farm to Food Bank this year to help Alberta food banks access fresh, storable produce.

The need is great — and so is this farmer’s generosity

Desire to give back results in the Alberta Farm to Food Bank

Reading Time: 3 minutes Steve Breum was looking for a way to expand his vegetable operation and give back to the community at the same time when he decided to start growing fresh produce for food banks. “We’re in a recession here, and people don’t have the money for food. These food banks need donations,” said Breum, owner of […] Read more



Ross Wetmore. (Video screengrab from NBPCCaucus via YouTube)

New Brunswick ag, fisheries files remarried

New Brunswick’s incoming minority Progressive Conservative government will again have one minister handling the province’s agriculture and aquaculture files. Premier Blaine Higgs on Friday announced Gagetown-Petitcodiac MLA Ross Wetmore as his minister of agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries. Wetmore, 65, replaces Andrew Harvey and Benoit Bourque, who had handled the agriculture and fisheries portfolios respectively on […] Read more

Taste-testing during a Canadian Beef Advantage Seminar in Shanghai in 2013. (Canada Beef via YouTube)

Trade pact clause seen deterring China trade deals with Canada, Mexico

Washington | Reuters — China’s hopes of negotiating a free trade pact with Canada or Mexico were dealt a sharp setback by a provision deep in the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement that aims to forbid such deals with “non-market” countries, trade experts said on Tuesday. The provision specifies that if one of the current North […] Read more


Mexico’s president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador looks on while listening to relatives of missing persons in Mexico City on Sept. 14, 2018. (File photo: Reuters/Violeta Schmidt)

Mexican president-elect insists on trilateral NAFTA

Washington/Mexico City | Reuters — The United States and Mexico are due to release the text of their trade agreement on Friday, increasing pressure on Canada to join its partners in revamping the North American Free Trade Agreement while Mexico’s president-elect said he would insist on a trilateral pact. President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said […] Read more

Concept of making money agriculture

Alberta Wheat says its cash advance program will be different

Farm group says it will streamline the process, but competitor says it’s needless duplication

Reading Time: 3 minutes Alberta farmers now have another service provider when it comes to selecting a cash advance. Producers in the province can now choose from 11 organizations — five offering cash advances for grains and oilseeds — when seeking a low- or no-interest loan pledged against their crops, livestock, or other agricultural products. But the Alberta Wheat […] Read more


Ballots at the printing press on Sept. 7 ahead of New Brunswick’s Sept. 24 election. (Photo courtesy Elections New Brunswick)

Photo-finish election claims New Brunswick’s ag minister

New Brunswick’s incumbent agriculture minister is among the Liberal cabinet members knocked out of office in Monday night’s too-close-to-call provincial election. Final results from Elections New Brunswick put Progressive Conservative candidate Robert Gauvin ahead of Agriculture, Mines and Rural Affairs Minister Wilfred Roussel by a spread of 99 votes in his northeastern riding of Shippagan-Lameque-Miscou. […] Read more

John Barlow in July 2015. (JohnBarlowMP.ca)

Tories’ junior ag critic promoted in shuffle

The federal Conservatives’ associate critic for agriculture and agri-food has been shuffled into a new post in the opposition’s shadow cabinet. John Barlow, MP for the southwestern Alberta riding of Foothills, was appointed Friday as lead shadow minister for employment, workforce development and labour by party leader Andrew Scheer. In a post on Facebook, Scheer […] Read more



(Haigwood Studios photo, InspireBrands.com)

Wendy’s sells stake in Arby’s owner

Reuters — Hamburger company Wendy’s Co. ended its decade-old ties with Arby’s as it sold its 12.3 per cent stake in the sandwich chain’s parent for US$450 million on Thursday, giving it a boost as it battles larger rivals McDonald’s and Burger King. Wendy’s will sell its stake to Inspire Brands, owned by Roark Capital, […] Read more