Options sought to replace crop buyers’ bonds

Prairie pulse growers’ and general farmers’ groups plan to look for new ways to ensure farmers are paid for grain deliveries once the bonding requirement for grain buyers is no longer mandatory. The provincial pulse growers’ and general farmers’ organizations in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, as well as the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and Canadian […] Read more

N.B. backs public cold storage facility

Fruit and vegetable processors in New Brunswick are among those expected to benefit from a new public cold storage facility to be built at Portage. The provincial government on Monday announced a $180,000 forgivable loan for Maritime Cold Storage to help cover capital costs to set up and equip the new facility. The locally owned […] Read more


Nominations open for national ag awards

Nominations are now open until Sept. 15 for the 2008 Canadian Agri-Food Awards of Excellence, meant to honour “innovative thinkers and entrepreneurs that are moving Canadian agriculture forward everyday,” Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said Friday. The awards are presented each year in

CN, CPR strike West Coast switching deal

Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) plan to jointly manage rail switching on intermodal trains at the Deltaport marine container terminal at Roberts Bank, B.C. Deltaport, about 40 km south of Vancouver’s inner harbour, handles about 70,000 intermodal TEUs (20-foot equivalent containers) off CN and CPR trains each month, the two railways said […] Read more


Gowan buys Dow’s Gavel potato fungicide

Pesticide firm Gowan Co. will soon own Dow AgroSciences’ potato fungicide brand Gavel 75DF as part of a worldwide deal for Dow’s business in Gavel’s active ingredient. Starting Aug. 1 this year, Gowan will be the sole marketer of Gavel, which is registered in Canada for use by potato growers to control early and late […] Read more

Feds back Suncor ethanol plant expansion

The federal government will put up $25 million for Suncor Energy’s planned expansion of its corn ethanol plant near Sarnia, Ont. The expansion of the Calgary company’s St. Clair plant, which it announced last month, is expected to double its current capacity to 400 million litres of ethanol per year. The facility expansion, which is […] Read more


Prairie spud growers enter convenience market

Two potato farms in Alberta and Saskatchewan are taking their produce directly to the heat-and-serve convenience food market. Barrich Farms of Outlook, Sask., about 90 km south of Saskatoon, and Bassano Growers at Bassano, Alta., about 140 km east of Calgary, have set up a joint venture called Todays Potatoes, with a processing facility at […] Read more

Release food inspection plan now: Liberals

The federal government needs to release its plan now for food safety inspections in Canada, without worrying about the “communications risks” involved in releasing it, the federal Liberals said Wednesday. News reports in the past week have stated that a Canadian Food Inspection Agency biologist has been sacked after finding confidential documents outlining such a […] Read more


Supreme Court allows BSE lawsuit: report

The Supreme Court of Canada won’t stop cattle producers from suing the federal government over the arrival of BSE in this country, according to a report Thursday by the Canadian Press. The news agency said the high court won’t hear an appeal filed by the federal government and Winnipeg feed maker Ridley Inc. that was […] Read more

PotashCorp to boost Sask. mines’ capacity

PotashCorp plans to spend US$1.6 billion in Saskatchewan to boost two potash mine capacity expansion projects and launch a third, to raise its total annual capacity by 15 per cent by the end of 2012. The Saskatoon company, the world’s largest potash producer by capacity, plans a new “debottlenecking” project at its mine at Allan, […] Read more