Fresh off its recent investment in the Prairie livestock feed business, Quebec ag co-operative giant La Coop federee is headed down a similar path in southwestern Ontario. The co-operative announced Monday it will pay an undisclosed sum for a 50 per cent stake in W-S Feed and Supply, based at Tavistock, Ont., about 30 km […] Read more

Coop federee buys into Ontario feed sector

Former sister firm to buy Outback Guidance
Farm GPS guidance and autosteering equipment company AgJunction is set to sell its Outback Guidance business to a satellite positioning tech firm it spun off five years earlier. Kansas-based AgJunction announced Monday it has sold the Outback assets to Hemisphere GNSS, a Scottsdale, Ariz. company owned by Chinese firm Beijing UniStrong, for an undisclosed sum. […] Read more

Saskatchewan highways minister moves to ag file
Saskatchewan’s highways and infrastructure minister is going off-road in his next cabinet assignment as minister of agriculture. David Marit, the MLA for the southwestern riding of Wood River since 2016, was named Wednesday by Premier Scott Moe to pick up the ag portfolio from Lyle Stewart. Stewart, the MLA for the south-central riding of Lumsden-Morse, […] Read more

Manitoba Beef Producers president steps down
The race to become the federal Conservatives’ candidate in Dauphin has claimed a second Manitoba farm leader. Dauphin-area rancher Ben Fox, president of Manitoba Beef Producers and the District 13 representative on the group’s board, announced Tuesday he had resigned as MBP president to seek a “federal party nomination.” MBP didn’t say which nomination Fox […] Read more

Saskatchewan ag minister to exit cabinet
Saskatchewan’s premier expects to name a new minister of agriculture within days, as the incumbent minister steps aside to focus on cancer treatments. Lyle Stewart announced Thursday he will remain as ag minister until Premier Scott Moe names a new minister, a decision to be announced sometime this week. “I was recently diagnosed with colorectal […] Read more

Phase-out of strychnine proposed
Reading Time: < 1 minute Health Canada is proposing to end the use of strychnine for killing ground squirrels. The proposal comes out of a scientific review of the poison, the federal department said. “An evaluation of available scientific information confirmed that there are risks of concern for non-target organisms, including species at risk, for products registered to control ground […] Read more

Japan resumes Canadian wheat purchases
Quick response by government and industry credited for quick resumption in sales to major wheat buyer
Reading Time: 2 minutes Japan has resumed purchases of Canadian wheat after testing found no genetically modified wheat in imports following the discovery of a few GM wheat plants in Alberta last summer. The decision “proves that Canada’s science-based regulatory system works,” said the general manager of the Alberta Wheat Commission. “Not only does Canada’s grain-handling system employ some […] Read more

CP conductors, engineers ratify four-year deal
Conductors and engineers for Canadian Pacific Railway have voted for labour peace following a 33-hour strike in late May. CP’s 3,100-odd conductors and engineers, represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), announced July 20 they have voted to ratify a four-year agreement. Almost 63 per cent of eligible employees cast electronic ballots in the […] Read more

UPL to buy crop chem firm Arysta
Indian chemical manufacturer UPL has raised the financial backing for an all-cash deal to become what’s expected to be the world’s fifth biggest crop chemical firm. UPL on July 20 announced it will pay $4.2 billion to buy 100 per cent of Arysta LifeScience — the maker of Everest and Inferno herbicides, among other products […] Read more