With Canadian National Railway’s conductors and yard workers headed back to work, several Canadian grain groups now want to head off any future job action in the rail sector. CN and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference announced separately Tuesday they had reached a tentative agreement ending an eight-day strike by over 3,000 unionized staff. The […] Read more
Grain groups seek ‘essential service’ status for rail
Modern farming produces a bumper crop of worries
More than 1,300 farmers were asked about their top concerns — and it’s a long list
Reading Time: 2 minutes What’s your biggest worry? Weather? Yield? Disease or pests? It’s actually selling what you produce, according to a recent Farm Credit Canada survey. The survey asked 1,363 producers about their major concerns and 67 per cent had marketing on their worry list — topping both production (60 per cent) and financial (53 per cent) risks. […] Read more
Pulse weekly outlook: FCC sees opportunities for exports
MarketsFarm — Farm Credit Canada (FCC) on Tuesday released a report titled Diversifying Canada’s agriculture exports, which included pulses and also looked at some of the pros and cons to diversifying Canada’s wheat, canola and soybeans. “Canada has done extremely well in establishing strong trade relations in a number of key markets thanks to a […] Read more
Worker’s plea for rest spurs breakthrough in CN strike, union says
Montreal | Reuters — As Canada’s biggest rail strike in a decade dragged on with no resolution in sight, the recorded pleas of an exhausted rail worker who wanted a break after a 10-hour shift helped deliver a critical breakthrough, a union leader told Reuters on Tuesday. The audio recording, released on Monday by Teamsters […] Read more
CN, Teamsters reach deal to end strike
Montreal | Reuters — Teamsters Canada and Canadian National Railway on Tuesday said they reached a tentative deal to end a strike at the country’s largest railroad that had entered its eighth day, disrupting supply chains across the country. “We have a deal,” a CN spokesman said. The union said normal operations will resume on […] Read more
CN strike drags on, hitting grain exports, fertilizer output
Ottawa/Montreal | Reuters — A prolonged strike at Canadian National Railway, the country’s largest railroad, sent further shocks through the economy on Monday with grain shipments scuttled and layoffs planned at fertilizer producers and an auto shipment terminal. As Canada’s biggest rail strike in a decade entered its seventh day, industry kept pressuring the government […] Read more
CP to buy direct line through Quebec, Maine
Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) is set to buy its way back into Quebec’s Eastern Townships and through to eastern ports with a deal for Central Maine and Quebec Railway (CMQ). Calgary-based CP announced Wednesday it has a deal with CMQ’s owner, Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors (FTAI), to buy the railway’s 774 km of rail […] Read more
Union says propane shortfalls may be CN’s own making
Propane shortages for grain dryers and heating fuel in the wake of a strike by Canadian National Railway (CN) conductors and yard workers appear to be “largely manufactured” by the railway, according to the union for the striking workers. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC-CTY), which represents over 3,000 CN staff in Canada who walked […] Read more
Propane shortage looms as CN strike hits third day
Winnipeg/Ottawa | Reuters — Shippers scrambled to shift freight onto trucks on Thursday as a strike at Canada’s biggest railroad, Canadian National Railway, hit its third day, leaving the critical fuel propane and other goods stranded. Some 3,200 unionized employees, including conductors and yard workers, hit picket lines on Tuesday in the biggest such action […] Read more
U.S. manufacturer buys control of DOT Technology
A made-in-Canada self-guiding farm equipment platform has sold control of itself to one of its U.S. investors. Sioux Falls, S.D. precision agriculture manufacturer Raven Industries announced last week it has closed its deal to buy majority ownership in Regina-based DOT Technology Corp. for an undisclosed sum. DOT said the deal will allow it to “further […] Read more