Reuters — McDonald’s Corp. reported better-than-expected quarterly same-restaurant sales as the launch of all-day breakfasts proved to be a hit with diners in the U.S. and demand continued to recover in China. The world’s biggest restaurant chain’s shares jumped 3.4 per cent in premarket trading on Monday. McDonald’s introduced all-day breakfasts in October in the […] Read more

McDonald’s sales beat as all-day breakfast a hit

Campbell Soup to label U.S. products for GMOs
Reuters — Campbell Soup said it will label all its U.S. products for the presence of ingredients derived from genetically modified organisms, becoming the first major food company to respond to growing calls for more transparency about ingredients. The world’s largest soup maker also said it supports the enactment of federal legislation for a single […] Read more

McCain french fry plant gets public funds for upgrades
CORRECTED, Jan. 13, 2016: The Manitoba and federal governments are dipping into an agribusiness support fund to cover half the cost of equipment upgrades for McCain Foods’ french fry plant in the province’s southwest. Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and provincial Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn on Wednesday announced $380,000 from the Growing Value program for […] Read more

Quebec heading toward neonic limits on crops
The Quebec government is preparing consultations ahead of a wide legislative swath through the province’s pesticide sector, to limit farmers’ use of neonicotinoid insecticide seed treatments and certain other pesticides. Environment Minister David Heurtel on Sunday released the province’s pesticide strategy for 2015 to 2018, mapping out the Couillard government’s plans in those years to […] Read more

ConAgra to spin off Lamb Weston potato unit, rebrand
Reuters — ConAgra Foods said it will spin off its Lamb Weston frozen potato products business into a separate public company, the latest in a series of changes announced by the maker of Chef Boyardee pasta and Slim Jim jerky at a time when consumers are shifting to less-processed foods. Lamb Weston will hold ConAgra’s […] Read more

Syngenta reported rejecting ChemChina takeover offer
Reuters — Syngenta has rejected ChemChina’s offer to buy the Swiss agricultural chemicals group, citing regulatory concerns, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. China National Chemical Corp., better known as ChemChina, offered about 449 Swiss francs (C$597) per share for Syngenta, valuing the Basel, Switzerland-based company at about 41.7 billion Swiss francs (C$55.4 billion), according to the […] Read more

Pete Luckett’s stores to become arm of Sobey’s
A hero to foodies across Canada is set to sell his retail and wholesale grocery businesses in Nova Scotia off to grocery giant Sobeys. Pete Luckett, the owner of the Pete’s Fine Foods stores in Halifax and Bedford, N.S. and a related wholesale business, announced Thursday he’ll sell those operations to Nova Scotia-based Sobeys for […] Read more

Alberta producers in the final stages of harvest
Alberta crop conditions as of October 20, 2015
Reading Time: 2 minutes Harvest is in its final stages. Producers were able to take advantage of warm, mostly dry conditions this past week to raise the completion percentage to 96.3 per cent. Dry beans and potatoes are virtually completed and only 15 per cent of the sugar beet crop remains to be dug. What remains outstanding is principally […] Read more

Dawson: Ag exporters applaud historic TPP deal
Export-oriented Canadian farmers are giving the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement reached in Atlanta on Monday two thumbs up. The deal, which remains to be debated in Canada’s House of Commons and could take more than a year to be ratified by all 12 member countries, will see tariffs on Canadian products in those markets eliminated […] Read more

McDonald’s rolls out campaign thanking Canadian farmers
Eighty-five per cent of the food it serves three million Canadian customers per day comes from Canadian farmers
Reading Time: 2 minutes McDonald’s Canada wants Canadian farmers to know it couldn’t do it without them. The company has rolled out a new advertising campaign with commercials featuring empty containers for its most popular menu items with the slogan “not without Canadian farmers.” The TV and online campaign emphasizes the whopping big quantities of its farm purchases. “We […] Read more