FBC Staff

Canada’s largest grain handling company has named the now-retired CEO of Imperial Oil to its board of directors. Tim Hearn, who had been the oil company’s CEO from 2002 until earlier this year, joins Viterra’s board effective immediately and will also sit on its audit committee, Regina-based Viterra announced Thursday. Hearn, who was born in […] Read more

One of Nova Scotia’s official symbols will now be its reddish-brown clay loam soil. The province announced Wednesday that Queens Soil, developed from reddish brown clay loam till derived from red shales and mudstones, and significant to the province’s agriculture and forestry sectors, will be its official soil. The decision followed lobbying and research by […] Read more

Fertilizer supply firm Agrico Canada will expand further into Quebec by partnering with a Norwegian company operating there. Oslo-based fertilizer supply company Yara International announced Wednesday that it’s bought a 25 per cent ownership stake in the 77-year-old Mississauga firm for an undisclosed sum. Agrico operates a supply terminal and retail centre at Chambly, Quebec […] Read more

A combination Group 4 and 6 herbicide has picked up registration for broadleaf weed control in Prairie spring wheat and barley. UAP Canada now holds the registration for Thrasher, which is made for UAP by MANA Canada, the Canadian wing of the Israeli generic crop protection company Makhteshim Agan Industries. “Thrasher has a fit for […] Read more

California pesticide firm AgraQuest says it’s picked up Canadian approval for use of its “biofungicide” Serenade ASO on pulse crops such as peas, lentils and beans and a “variety” of others. The company, in a recent announcement, said its liquid product is based on a naturally-occurring bacterium, Bacillus subtilis. “It provides growers an effective tool […] Read more

The House of Commons has passed the government’s bill to legislate the minimum level of farmed fuels coming out at the pump. The bill passed Wednesday will require all gasoline sold in Canada to contain five per cent ethanol by 2010, and all diesel and heating oil to contain two per cent renewable fuels by […] Read more

The Ontario community of Stoney Creek, east of Hamilton, has been removed from Canada’s list of areas infected with plum pox virus. Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz on Wednesday announced the “successful eradication” of the virus in what had been one of seven areas in Ontario and Nova Scotia where it’s been detected since 2000. […] Read more

An interdepartmental committee of the Prince Edward Island government will review proposals to produce farmed fuels in the province. The interdepartmental biofuels committee (IDBC), launched Tuesday, will be led by the provincial ag department and will include representation from the innovation, fisheries, transportation, environment, environment, energy and forestry and treasury departments. Any biofuel project proposals […] Read more

Prairie grain growers would have to produce more than a permit book before they can vote in director elections for the Canadian Wheat Board, under a new bill announced Tuesday. Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz introduced amendments to the CWB Act Tuesday in the House of Commons that would require a Prairie farmer to produce […] Read more